De Akker earned a surprising and valuable away win in the Italian League 24th round. The Bologna-based team edged out Brescia – 7:6. It was Brescia’s first loss in this season’s league.
With this victory, De Akker continued running a neck-and-neck race for 4th place with Trieste.
De Akker’s victory also benefited Pro Recco, which defeated Roma Vis Nova convincingly. As a result, the reigning champions are alone at the top of the table and no longer share 1st place with Brescia.
Brescia started strong in the game against De Akker, leading 3:1 in the 9th minute. However, after that initial burst, Brescia’s offense faltered – De Akker’s defense was superb.. For nearly 18 minutes, Brescia struggled to find the back of the net, during which De Akker went on a 4:0 run. In the 27th minute, Stefano Luongo gave the visitors a 5:3 lead. Brescia’s Balzarini finally ended their scoring drought by converting a power play opportunity, bringing the score to 4:5. This seemed to energize the home team. Three minutes before the end, Brescia leveled the score. Vincenzo Dolce scored an action goal for 6:6. Still, the teams weren’t tied for long. Just 30 seconds later, Bragantini netted from a 6 on 5 to set the final score. De Akker won 7:6, with three goals from Stefano Luongo. Lucci added two. Guerrato and Balzarini scored two each for Brescia.
Pro Recco beat Roma Vis Nova 17:6, with 11 players scoring for the winning team. Francesco Di Fulvio led the charge with three goals. Pro Recco opened the match with a 6:0 run, and it was clear that it wouldn’t allow the hosts to surprise them.
Trieste didn’t have an easy task in Sicily against Telimar. Trieste built an early 6:2 lead (11th minute). By the middle break, Telimar cut the deficit to one goal (6:7). Midway through the third period, Trieste scored two action goals within 31 seconds and went to 9:6. In the rest of the game, the difference was never smaller than two goals. Trieste recorded a 12:10 victory. Draskovic and Mladossich scored half of the goals of the winning team. Each found the net thrice. Gilberti scored three for Telimar.
Trieste and De Akker share 4th and 5th place with 43 points. Still, Trieste is ahead of De Akker because of a better head-to-head score.
In the remaining two rounds, Trieste will play an away match against Ortigia and a home game against Florentia. De Akker travels to Rome next week to face the 12th-placed Olympic Roma, and it will host Savona in the last round on April 18.
Roma Vis Nova and Posillipo are six points behind Trieste and De Akker, so their chances of reaching the playoffs are slim.
Posillipo caught up with Roma Vis Nova, defeating Quinto in Genoa – 12:7 with three goals from Radulovic and Serino.
Third-placed Savona showed no mercy to Onda Forte. Valerio Rizzo and Daniil Merkulov each scored four goals in Savona’s 19:6 victory.
Only two home teams won points in the 24th round. Florentia defeated Olympic Roma 14:12, while Ortigia beat Catania 17:12 in the Sicilian derby.
2024/25 Italian League, 24th round
Brescia – De Akker 6:7 (2:1, 1:1, 0:2, 3:3)
Telimar – Trieste 10:12 (2:3, 4:4, 1:3, 3:2)
Roma Vis Nova – Pro Recco 6:17 (0:5, 3:5, 2:3, 1:4)
Florentia – Olympic Roma 14:12 (2:3, 6:4, 4:2, 2:3)
Iren Genova Quinto – Posillipo 7:12 (2:4, 2:4, 1:3, 2:1)
Ortigia – Catania 17:12 (3:4, 4:2, 5:2, 5:4)
Onda Forte – Savona 6:19 (3:4, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6)
1.Pro Recco 24 – 70
2. Brescia 24 – 67
3. Savona 24 – 63
4. Trieste 24 – 43
5. De Akker 24 – 43
6. Roma Vic Nova 24 – 37
7. Posillipo 24 – 37
8. Ortigia 24 – 32
9. Florentia 24 – 25
10. Telimar 24 – 24
11. Quinto 24 – 23
12. Olympic Roma 24 – 15
13. Catania 24 – 7
14. Onda Forte 24 – 5
