Olympiacos’ winning streak in the Greek League has come to an end.
The “Red Whites” are still unbeaten, but they no longer have a perfect record. Vouliagmeni and Olympiacos shared the points in the big Greek derby – 10:10 played in the 18th round of the national championships. The distance in the standings remains the same. Two points separate leader Olympiacos and 2nd-placed Vouliagmeni, which also didn’t suffer a loss in the 2023 Greek League, but it won only a point in the match with Apollon at the end of the first phase of the regular season.
Almost all games of the group for the title were thrilling.
2022/23 Greek League, Day 18 (Day 4 of 2nd phase)
Group G1 (1st – 8th place)
Vouliagmeni – Olympiacos 10:10 (3:3, 4:3, 1:1, 2:3)
Vouliagmeni: Alafragkis 2, Kapotsis 2, Troulos 2, Kalogeropoulos 1, Papasifakis 1, Kourouvanis 1, Farmer 1.
Olympiacos: Genidounias 3, Fountoulis 2, Dervisis 2, Grammatikos 1, Filipovic 1, Papanastasiou 1.
Peristeri – Panathinaikos 10:9 (0:2, 2:4, 4:1, 4:2)
Peristeri: Karuntzos 3, Chrysospathis 2,Torakis 1, Prekas 1, Koukoumakis 1, Chr. Bitsakos 1, Foskolos 1.
Panathinaikos: Tzelatis 2, Dermitzakis 2, Chr. Siamas 2, Deuteraios 1, Adzic 1, Hatzigoulas 1.
PAOK – Panionios 12:11 (4:3, 1:3, 2:3, 5:2)
PAOK: Milradovic 5, Kalagyros 2, Koopman 2,Kechalaris 1, Tsolakoudis 1, P. Prosiniklis 1.
Panionios: Kopeliadis 2, Bitadze 2, Papakos 2, Gounas 2, Gkiuovetsis 1, Mouratidis 1, Kapetanakis 1.
Apollon – Ethnikos 14:5 (5:0, 3:2, 3:1, 3:2)
Apollon Smyrnis: Gardikas 6, Bogdanovic 3, Mokkas 1, Diplaros 1, Vickovic 1, Tourkomenis 1, Solanakis 1.
Ethnikos: Beto 2, Mathiopoulos 2, Vitellas 1.
The duel in Vouliagmeni’s outdoor pool was the third encounter between the best Greek clubs this season. The series was opened by a clash in the Champions League- Olympiacos posted a convincing 14:6 win. The match in the semifinals of the Greek Cup, played in Patras, was an equal battle in the first half, but Olympiacos celebrated a convincing win in the end (12:7).
Therefore, many believed that Vouliagmeni couldn’t stop Olympiacos this season. However, the players, coached by Vladimir Vujasinovic, proved their quality in a very close contest. The score was tied eight times during the match.
Olympiacos opened the scoring – Papanastasiou made it 1:0 in the third minute. Vouliagmeni replied with three goals in less than three minutes and took a 3:1 advantage. Olympiacos leveled before the first break (3:3). The second quarter started in the same way as the first period. Olympiacos scored the first goal and went in front for the last time in 4:3. After the visitors’ 3:0 series, Vouliagmeni regained a lead (5:4). The visitors equalized twice (5:5 and 6:6), but they had no response after Kapotsis netted for 7:6 in the 15th minute.
After 13 goals in the first half, both teams tightened their defenses. There were no goals until the 21st minute when Troulos converted a man-up to double Vouliagmeni’s advantage – 8:6. After just 26 seconds of the play in the fourth quarter, Olympiacos leveled at 8:8 (Fountoulis). In the remaining time, Vouliagmeni went in front twice (9:8 and 10:9), but Olympiacos leveled on both occasions. Konstantinos Genidounias closed the match with his third goal – he converted a man-up in the 30th minute and set the final score – 10:10.
The visitors dictated the pace for more than two quarters of the encounter between Peristeri and Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos led 4:0 in the 2nd quarter and 7:3 at the beginning of the third. But, Peristeri produced a big comeback and won all three points. Deep into the fourth period, the hosts leveled for the first time – 9:9. They didn’t stop there. A minute and a half, Christos Bitsakos scored a winner – Panionios recorded a 10:9 victory.
Something similar happened in Thessaloniki. The home team collected three points thanks to a late comeback. Panionios had a 6:5 at halftime of the match against PAOK. The visitors had a 9:7 advantage after the end of the third quarter and maintained a 2-goal difference until 11:9. But, PAOK’s Nikola Milradovic scored the last three goals in the game and the hosts took all three points – 12:11.
Apollon was the only team in Group G1 that recorded a comfortable victory on Matchday 18. Apollon easily beat Ethnikos and returned to 3rd place ahead of Panionios.
1.Olympiacos 18 – 52
2.Vouliagmeni 18 –50
3.Apollon 18 – 41
4.Panionios 18 – 39
5.PAOK 18 – 33
6.Peristeri 18 – 30
7.Panathinaikos 18 – 25
8.Ethnikos 18 – 18
Group G2 (9th – 16th place)
Palaio Faliro – Chios 10:7 (4:0, 1:2, 3:1, 2:4)
Palaio Faliro: Radulovic 3, Tot 2, Koukounas 2, Kokkinos 1, Kourliaftis 1, Kalis 1.
Chios: Pappas 2, Halajian 2, Vekkos 1, Maroulas 1, Ambazis 1.
Chania – Nireas Chalandriou 11:8 (3:3, 3:2, 3:2, 2:1)
Chania: Spahits 3, Agiorgousis 2, Apostolakis 2, Charitakis 1, Soleimanipak 1, Mazokopakis 1, Chatzikyriakakis 1.
Nireas Chalandriou: Papadimitriou 4, Pantazopoulos 3, Christoforidis 1.
Glyfada – AEK 9:6 (2:3, 3:1, 1:1, 3:1)
Glyfada: Tsatalios 3, Sargetakis 2, Guardian 1, Giannopoulos 1, Papageorgiou 1, Pouros 1.
AEK: Marinagis 2, Vukcevic 1, Galanis 1, Papakos 1, Araya 1.
Ilysiakos – Ydraikos on Thursday evening.
9. Glyfada 18 – 23
10. Chios 18 – 22
11. AEK 18 – 21
12. Ydraikos 17 – 21
13. Chania 18 – 21
14. Palaio Faliro 18 – 15
15. Ilysiakos 17 – 7
16. Nireas Chalandriou 18 – 2
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