There were no surprises in the return leg of the quarterfinals of the Croatian playoffs. Mladost, Jadran Split, and Solaris recorded wins and joined Jug Dubrovnik, which secured its place in the semifinals yesterday.
Regional League winner Mladost Zagreb beat POSK 15:4 this morning. Everything was practically decided yesterday, after the first match. On Friday evening, Mladost recorded a 21:4 win. Today, the “Frogs” from Zagreb dominated again, but they weren’t so successful in the attack as they were yesterday. However, they didn’t have to play at “full throttle” after the convincing win in 1st leg.
Luka Bukic, who scored six goals yesterday, netted four today. Lovre Milos also found the net four times. Comparing to yesterday’s game, Josip Vrlic and Milos Cuk missed the match. Mladost coach Zoran Bajic gave them a rest.
According to the agreement between the clubs, the two games were played in Zagreb. The venue was the outdoor pool “Salata”.
Jadran Split defeated Primorje 14:10. That was nearly a replay of the first game played in Rijeka on Wednesday when Jadran celebrated a 13:9 victory.
Today’s most exciting match was the game Mornar โ Solaris. Finally, After a balanced battle, Solaris defeated Mornar 11:9. But, this match lacked real drama, since Solaris arrived to Split with an enormous 9-goal advantage earned in Sibenik. Solaris posted a 14:5 win on home soil on Wednesday.
Croatian Championship, playoffs, quarterfinals
2nd leg
Saturday
Mladost โ POSK 15:4 (3:1, 4:1, 4:1, 4:1) โ 1st leg 21:4
HAVK Mladost: Bukic 4, Milos 4, Biljaka 2, Busic 1, Lazic 1, Bowen 1, Brcic 1, Kharkov 1.
OVK POSK: Penava 2, Gadza 1, Radan 1.
Jadran S โ Primorje 14:10 (3:1, 4:4, 2:1, 5:4) โ 1st leg 13:9
Jadran Split: Delic 3, Setka 3, Jankovic 2, Krapic 2, Butic 2, Kadmenovic 1, Viskovic 1.
Primorje EP: Car 3, Brubnjak 2, Rakovac 2, Tkac 1, Vrlic 1, Babic 1.
Mornar โ Solaris 9:11 (3:3, 3:3, 1:3, 2:2) โ 1st leg 5:14
Mornar BS: R. Akrap 2, Krekovic 1, Calic 1, D. Akrap 1, Buzdovancic 1, Buselic 1, Ban 1, Butic 1.
Solaris: Erak 2, Bulat 2, Vlahovic 2, Pelicaric 2, Mudrazija 1, Koprcina 1, Kovacic 1.
Friday
Jug โ Galeb 20:5 (3:2, 6:0, 4:1, 7:2) – 1st leg 23:4
Semifinals (best-of-three)
Jug โ Solaris
Mladost โ Jadran S
Games are scheduled for July 1 and 4 (if it will be needed, the 3rd matches will be played on July 8). Jug and Mladost will be the hosts in the 1st match and, in the possible 3rd game.
Semifinals for places 5-8: Mornar โ Galeb, Primorje โ POSK
Playoffs for 9th place
2nd leg
Medvescak โ Zadar 1952 13:13 (4:3, 3:5, 3:1, 3:4) โ 1st leg 14:9
Medvescak won the ninth place.
