The most exciting game of the second day of the Champions League Qualification Stage 1 was an encounter between Terrassa and Montpellier.
Terrassa and Montpellier faced off in the first round of Group A in Savona. A big thriller was ended with no winner – 12:12. The last goal was scored by a goalkeeper. Primorac and host Savona recorded convincing wins in this group.
Six games were played in Group B in Podgorica today. OSC Budapest, which had a day off yesterday started the tournament with two wins. The Hungarians beat Apollon Smyrnis and Sintez Kazan. Jadran Split defeated Apollon to keep a perfect record. Jadran Herceg Novi recorded two wins today, as well as OSC, but the Montenegrins didn’t have hard tasks
Group A (Savona), Round 1: Primorac – Warsaw 22:4, Terrassa – Montpellier 12:12, Savona – Vitoria 26:6.
Group B (Podgorica), Round 2: OSC Budapest – Apollon 15:8, Jadran HN – Zaibas 25:9, Sintez – Enka 12:6. Round 3: Apollon – Jadran S 11:19, Jadran HN – Enka 15:5, OSC – Sintez 15:12.
Champions League, Qualification Round 1, Day 2
Group A (Savona), Round 1
Primorac – AZS UW Warsaw 22:4 (3:0, 6:2, 8:1, 5:1)
Primorac: Draskovic 6, Bastrica 5, Vuksic 3, Stanojevic 2, Matkovic 2, Kljajic 1, Gopcevic 1, Macic 1, Vukasovic 1.
Warsaw: Moore 2, Grabinski 1, Kalata 1.
Former European champion Primorac ran over Warsaw and collected three points, as expected.
Terassa – Montpellier 12:12 (0:1, 4:4, 4:2, 4:5)
Terrassa: Barroso 4, Flores 3, De Lera 2, Alegre 1, Gutierrez 1, Rodriguez 1.
Montpellier: Mustur 3, Alfonso Pozo 3, Ivankovic 2, Andric 1, Delas 1, D.Zivkovic 1, I.Zivkovic 1.
Terrassa and Montpellier shared the points in a thrilling game with a lot of twists and turns. Montpellier’s goalkeeper Lazar Andric scored a decisive last-gasp goal.
The first half was quite balanced, but Montpellier had a minimal 5:4 advantage at the middle break. The third quarter belonged to the Spaniards, who entered the fourth period with an 8:7 advantage.
Two minutes before the end, Terrassa had a solid 12:9 advantage. The Spaniards seemed to have control of the match and that they would record a win. Montpellier didn’t surrenderer cut the deficit at 11:12 with 55 seconds remaining on the clock. Terrassa failed to secure a win in its last possession. Then, the French side’s goalkeeper Lazar Andric took responsibility in the final attack and found the net for 12:12 six seconds before the end.
Savona – Vitoria 26:6 (9:0, 7:3, 7:2, 3:1)
Savona: Rizzo 5, Fondelli 5, Vuskovic 4, Bruni 3, Rocchi 2, Patchaliev 2, Iocchi Gratta 2, Molina 1, Caldieri 1, Campopiano 1.
Vitoria Guimaraes: Sousa 3, Ramos 2, Lopes 1.
Savona played its first match in the Champions League after ten years. The Italian club returned to the CHL after the season 2011/12 when it was eliminated in the Qualification Round 2. The hosts are among the favorites for 1st place in this group. Today’s match against the Portuguese was just warming up for more demanding challenges.
Group A (Podgorica)
Round 2
OSC – Apollon 15:8 (4:2, 4:3, 4:1, 3:2)
OSC Budapest: Manhercz 5, Vigvari 3, Varnai 2, Sziladi 1, Salamon 1, Csacsovszky 1, Toth 1, Bundschuh 1.
Apollon Smyrnis: Gusarov 2, Viskovic 2, Gounas 2, Alamanos 1, Gardikas 1.
OSC Budapest, the favorite of the tournament, started in the qualifications with a convincing win. The Hungarians led throughout the game. Apollon equalized twice (1:1 and 4:4). Still, OSC dictated the pace. The Hungarians built a 5-goal advantage in the third period (10:5) and Apollon couldn’t come back. As usual, Krisztian Manhercz was OSC’s best scorer with five goals.
Jadran HN – Zaibas 25:9 (8:1, 7:3, 4:3, 6:2)
Jadran Herceg Novi: Da.Radovic 5, Sladovic 4, Vucurovic 2, Obradovic 2, Vujovic 2, Murisic 2, Gardasevic 2, Caraj 2, Petkovic 2, Stevovic, V.Radovic 1.
Zaibas: Jonkus 2, Vitkauskas 2, Gervickas 2, Kuzmenko 1, Jakutis 1, Ivovic 1.
Marko Petkovic (Jadran HN) All photos by PVK Jadran Herceg Novi
Jadran Herceg Novi collected the first three points at the tournament with an easy win over Zaibas. Early in the second period, Jadran had a 10:1 advantage and shortly after earned a double-digit lead (13:3). The hosts didn’t slow down and increased the margin of their win to 16.
Sintez – Enka 12:6 (3:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:3)
Sintez Kazan:Vasilev 3, Suchkov 2, Zinnurov 2, Ryzhov-Alenichev 2, Odintsoc 1, Bychkov 1, Shepelev 1.
Enka: Acar 1, Duzneli 1, Alkan 1, Yenigun 1, Albayrak 1, Obradovic 1.
Sintez dominated the match. In the 14th minute, the Russians built a 6-goal lead for the first time (7:1) and maintained the difference until the end.
Sintez’s Ivan Suchkov (green cap)
Sintez had only 11 players on the roster. An experienced Sergey Lisunov was suspended because of a red card received on Day 1 against Apollon. Nikolay Lazarev missed the match,too.
Round 3
Apollon Smyrnis – Jadran S 11:19 (3:4, 3:4, 3:6, 2:5)
Apollon: Gounas 5, Alamanos 2, Goniotakis 2,,Gusarov 1, Solanakis 1.
Jadran Split: Marinic-Kragic 5, Kharkov 4, Setka 2, Buric 2, Cagalj 1, Butic 1, Pejkovic 1, Bukic 1, Duzevic 1.
After beating Jadran Herceg Novi yesterday, Jadran Split achieved another win in a derby match. The Croats have six points from two games, and it’s almost certain that they will advance to the second qualification round. The Greeks started well. They had a slim lead in the beginning (3:2), but Jadran responded with three straight goals for 5:3, and from that point on, the Croats were always ahead. Jadran broke the rival in the middle of the game. In the 15th minute, Apollon trailed 6:7. But, Jadran, led by Jerko Marinic Kragic and Konstantin Kharkov, produced a 5:0 run by the middle of the third quarter. The Croats jumped to a 12:6 lead, and there was no way back for the Greeks, who suffered two losses today.
Jerko Marinic Kragic (Jadran Split)
Jadran HN – Enka 15:5 (2:2, 4:0, 5:2, 4:1)
Jadran Herceg Novi: Vujicic 3, Vucurovic 3, D.Obradovic 3, Da.Radovic 2, Vujovic 1, Gardasevic 1, Caraj 1, Petkovic 1.
Enka: P. Obradovic 3, Gurdenli 2.
The home team started slowly. Jadran opened the match with a 2:0 lead, but Enka leveled at 2:2 before the first break. However, Jadran kept Enka goalless in the following 10 minutes, while it netted five goals. The hosts went to 7:2 and killed all the suspense.
OSC – Sintez 15:12 (5:4, 4:3, 3:2, 3:3)
OSC Budapest: Vigvari 4, Salamon 3, Manhercz 2, Toth 2, Harai 2,Sziladi 1, Burian 1.
Sintez Kazan: Ryzhov-Alenichev 6, Zinnurov 3, Bychkov 1, Lisunov 1, Shepelev 1.
Sintez started the match with 12 players. Lisunov returned to the team after a suspension, but Lazarev didn’t play in both today’s games.
Despite the fact they entered the match with a player fewer, the Russians kept up with one of the best Hungarian clubs for most of the time. Sintez scored an opening goal. OSC responded with two for 2:1, but the Russians leveled the score at 2:2, 3:3, 4:4, and 5:5. Early in the third period, OSC made a three-goal difference (10:7). After that, Sintez was trying to come back, but OSC controlled the match and kept the points. Sintez managed to stop OSC’s best scorer Manhercz. Young Vince Vigvari was the leader of the winning team’s offense with four goals. But, the best scorer was Sintez’s Alexey Ryzhov-Alenichev, who found the net six times.
1 Jadran S (CRO) 2 – 6
2 OSC Budapest (HUN) 2 – 6
3 Jadran HN (MNE) 3 – 6
4 Sintez (RUS) 3 – 3
5 Apollon (GRE) 3 – 3
6 Enka (TUR) 3 – 3
7 Zaibas (LTU) 2 – 0
