The LEN Qualification Round 1 has been finished today after 32 games played from Thursday and Sunday.
After Saturday’s matches, there were only three available tickets for the second round. Today, Sabac, Strasbourg, and Sabadell secured their spots in the next phase. The outcome of Group C in Utrecht was the most interesting and a little bit surprising. Sabac kept 2nd place in the group, despite the fact that it didn’t play today.
To remind, the teams that advanced to the 2nd stage earlier are Telimar, Solaris, Ortigia, Vasas, and BVSC.
The 2nd phase will be played next weekend (the outcome of the draw is at the end of the article).
Day 4, results – Group A (round 5): Sant Andreu – Shturm 17:7, Solaris – Telimar 9:10; Group B (round 3): Peristeri – Strasbourg 7:8, Ortigia – Ludwigsburg 16:8; Group C (round 5): Vasas – Tourcoing 11:7, UZSC – Duisburg 10:17; Group D (round 3): AEK – Sabadell 8:10, Vojvodina – BVSC 11:14.
LEN Euro Cup, Qualification Round 1, Day 4
Group A (Sibenik), round 5
Sant Andreu – Shturm 2002 17:7 (1:0, 6:2, 4:3, 6:2)
Sant Andreu:Bargallo 5, Bustos 3, Tenorio 2, Frigola 2, Bofill 2, Diaz 1, Paul 1, Montes 1.
Shturm 2002 Ruza: Shevchuk 2, Alekseev 1, Barabushka 1, Rukhlov 1, Kirsanov 1, Ziuzin 1.
Solaris – Telimar 9:10 (2:2, 2:4, 2:2, 3:2)
Solaris Sibenik: Pelicaric 4, Penava 3, Condic Kadmenovic 1, Goreta 1.
Telimar Palermo: Del Basso 5, Marziali 3, Irving 2.
Solaris and Telimar collected 9 points each in the previous three days. They booked tickets for the next phase yesterday; they battled for 1st place in the group today. A point would be enough for Telimar to keep the top spot because it had a better goal difference than the hosts.
The Italian team, which has two of Solaris’ former players on the roster (Basic and Vlahovic), led from the beginning. The Croats managed to equalize in the first quarter (1:1 and 2:2). Telimar opened the second quarter with two goals for a 4:2 advantage. Solaris was chasing the Italians, but they couldn’t catch up with Telimar in the second and the third quarter. The Italians built a 3-goal advantage (8:5) midway through the third quarter. However, Solaris didn’t surrender and, finally, equalized in the third minute of the fourth quarter (9:9). But, the home side didn’t score in the remaining time. Four minutes before the end, Mario Del Basso converted a penalty for his 5th goal and the final score (10:9).
1 Telimar Palermo (ITA) 4 – 12
2 Solaris Sibenik (CRO) 4 – 9
3 Sant Andreu (ESP) 4 – 6
4 Shturm 2002 Ruza (RUS) 4 – 3
5 Carouge Natation (SUI) 4 – 0
Group B (Syracuse), round 3
Peristeri – Strasbourg 7:8 (2:2, 0:3, 2:0, 3:3)
Peristeri: Karountzos 3, Papasifakis 3, Agkortsas 1.
Strasbourg: Cesca 2, Babic 2, Buden 2, Missy 1, Buha 1.
Ortigia – Ludwigsburg 16:8 (6:3, 2:1, 3:2, 5:2)
Ortigia: Condemi 3, Cassia 2, Gallo 2, Mirarchi 2, Vidovic 2, Giribaldi 1, Klikovac 1, Ferrero 1, Di Luciano 1, Rossi 1.
Ludwigsburg 08: Martinic 3, Blazevic 2, Bauer 1, Lipar 1, Bosic 1.
The only important game of the last day in Syracuse was an encounter between Peristeri and Strasbourg. The duel Ortigia – Ludwigsburg couldn’t affect the final standings, while Peristeri and Strasbourg faced in the duel for 2nd place.
Thanks to a slightly better goal difference, Peristeri was in 2nd place before today’s clash with Strasbourg. Therefore, the duel was a must-win match for Strasbourg, while Peristeri needed a point to keep 2nd place. After the first half, Strasbourg led 5:2, but the third period belonged to the Greeks. In the fourth quarter, Peristeri equalized three times (5:5, 6:6, 7:7). However, the French responded after each of the Greeks’ three goals. Dragan Budjen found the net 42 seconds from time for 8:7 and sent Strasbourg into the next round.
1 Ortigia (ITA) 3 – 9
2 Strasbourg (FRA) 3 – 6
3 Peristeri (GRE) 3 – 3
4 Ludwigsburg (GER) 3 – 0
Group C (Utrecht), round 5
Vasas – Tourcoing 11:7 (2:3, 5:1, 3:1, 1:2)
Vasas:Vadovics 4, Erdelyi 2, Sedlmayer 2, Brguljan 1, Simon 1, Bedo 1.
Tourcoing Lille: Rocchietta 2, Gagulic 2, Avena 1, Vincourt 1.
UZSC – Duisburg 10:17 (4:7, 2:5, 0:2, 4:3)
UZSC Utrecht:Hoepelman 4, Van derBurg 1, Gielen 1, Ten Wolde 1, Kastorp 1, Van den Bersselaar 1, De Jong 1.
ASC Duisburg: Gansen 4, Tanaskovic 3, Kilibarda 3, Bakulo 3, Gergelyfi 2, Schwark 1, Dolff 1,
Sabac is the winner of the day of Group B, even though it didn’t jump into the water today. Sabac played its last game at the tournament yesterday. Before the fifth round, the Serbian club was in 2nd place, but Tourcoing and UZSC had excellent chances to overtake the Serbian club and qualify for the next stage of the Euro Cup. However, both clubs suffered losses today, and Sabac advanced to the 2nd round.
Tourcoing’s loss was more or less expected since it played against favorite Vasas. But, UZSC was defeated by ASC Duisburg, which didn’t win a single point in the first three days and couldn’t move from last place after yesterday’s round 4.
Tourcoing stunned Vasas in the first quarter, earning an opening 3:0 lead. The French were in front until the middle of the second period (4:3). The Hungarians had nothing to lose in this match because they secured 1st place yesterday. But, Vasas wanted to keep a perfect record. The Budapest-based team produced a 6:0 series in the middle of the match to go to 9:4. The rest of the game saw a balanced battle, and Vasas confirmed 1st place in the group.
ASC had no pressure in the last match of the day, unlike UZSC. The Germans were cemented to 5th place before the game, but they were motivated to finish the tournament with a win. In the end, they surprised the hosts, who disappointed their fans.
Duisburg took an opening 2:0 lead. By the middle of the high-scoring first quarter, the Germans increased the margin to three (4:1) and maintained the difference until the first break (7:4). UZSC couldn’t recover from an opening shock. Duisburg dictated the pace and had a 12:6 lead at halftime. The Germans entered the final quarter with an 8-goal advantage (14:6), and there was no way back for UZSC, which ran out of gas after yesterday’s hard-fought win over Tourcoing (9:8).
1 Vasas (HUN) 4 – 12
2 Sabac (SRB) 4 – 5
3 UZSC Utrecht (NED) 4 – 4*
4 Tourcoing (FRA) 4 – 4*
5 ASC Duisburg (GER) 4 – 3
*Head to head UZSC – Tourcoing 9:8
Group D (Novi Sad), round 3
AEK – Sabadell 8:10 (3:3, 1:2, 2:2, 2:3)
AEK Athens: Krijestorac 4, Diplaros 2, Papoukas 1, Vukcevic 1.
Sabadell: Sanahuja 3, Cabanas 2, Valera 1, Bertran 1, Averka 1, Lopez 1, Veich 1.
Vojvodina – BVSC 11:14 (3:3, 4:4, 2:2, 2:5)
Vojvodina: Rogac 3, Radanovic 3, Bogdanovic 2, Bursac 1, Tintor 1, Frolov 1.
BVSC Zuglo: Csapo 5, Gyarfas 5, M.Mesyaros 2, Cs. Meszaros 1, M. Pasztor 1.
AEK and Sabadell opened the 3rd competition day in Novi Sad. Both teams were in the hunt for a ticket for the 2nd phase. AEK dictated the pace in the opening minutes. It led 2:0 at the beginning, while it had a 4:3 advantage a minute and a half before the middle break. Sabadell equalized in the 15th minute. Three seconds before the end of the second quarter, Cabanas converted a man-up and put Sabadell in front for the first time (5:4).
The Spaniards continued their series of goals, and earned a 3-goal lead early in the second half (7:4). But, AEK, a debutant in the LEN competitions, started coming back and equalized in the final quarter (7:7 and 8:8). However, Sabadell secured a win and 2nd place with two unanswered goals in the last four minutes.
After Sabadell’s win, Vojvodina lost all chances to jump to 2nd place. BVSC secured 1st position yesterday. So, the last match of the tournament was only for pride. Before the fourth period, the rivals were tied at 9:9. Vojvodina’s Rogac hit the back of the net in the first possession in the final quarter (10:9), but the Hungarians responded with two goals. Four minutes before the final quarter, Vojvodina equalized (11:11), but BVSC scored three straight goals in the last minutes for a 14:11 victory.
1 BVSC-Zuglo (HUN) 3 – 9
2 Sabadell (ESP) 3 – 6
3 AEK Athens (GRE) 3 – 1 (-9)
4 Vojvodina (SRB) 3 – 1 (-10)
Round 2 (October 8 – 10)
The draw for the second round has been conducted today. The groups will be played in Palermo (Italy) and Budapest (Hungary)
Group E (Palermo, Italy)
Telimar Palermo (Italy), Strasbourg (France), Sabac (Serbia), BVSC Zuglo Budapest (Hungary)
Group F (Budapest, Hungary)
Solaris Sibenik (Croatia), Ortigia Syracuse (Italy), Vasas Budapest (Hungary), Sabadell (Spain).
The top two sides will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face the teams which lose in the 3rd Qualification Round of the LEN Champions League.
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