The clash of two teams which played at the Champions League Final Eight last season was the most important match of the 8th round in the Italian League.
Sport Management (7th place in the 2019 Champions League) hosted Brescia, which took the 6th place in last season’s Champions League. Sport Management celebrated an 8:5 win.
Pro Recco demolished Posillipo in Naples (20:2), Roma and Trieste shared the points (12:12). Two games were postponed because of the bad weather warning for the northern Italian region of Liguria.
Italian League 2019/20, Round 8
Sport Management – Brescia 8:5 (1:0, 3:2, 3:2, 1:1)
Banco Bpm Sport Management: Valentino 3, Damonte 2, Dolce 1, Lanzoni 1, C. Mirarchi 1.
Brescia: Figari 3, Buha 1, Guerrato 1.
Posillipo – Pro Recco 2:20 (0:3, 1:8, 1:4, 0:5)
Posillipo: J. Parrella 1, L. Marziali 1.
Pro Recco: F. Di Fulvio 4, Mandic 3, Figlioli 3, Renzuto Iodice 3, Velotto 2, Ivovic 2,S. Luongo 2, Aicardi 1.
Ortigia – Salerno 9:7 (2:2, 3:1, 2:2, 2:2)
Ortigia: Di Luciano 2, Gallo 2, Giacoppo 2, Napolitano 2, Cassia 1.
Campolongo H.R.N. Salerno: Tomasic 4, Cuccovillo 2, M. Luongo 1.
Roma – Trieste 12:12 (3:3, 3:3, 3:2, 3:4)
Roma: Camilleri 4, F. Faraglia 2, Paskovic 2, M. Lapenna 1, De Robertis 1, Spione 1, Innocenzi 1.
Trieste: Gogov 5, Vico 3, Petronio 2, K. Milakovic 1, Mezzarobba 1.
Telimar – Canottieri Naples 15:8 (4:2, 4:2, 2:2, 5:2)
Telimar: Saric 3, Draskovic 2, Migliaccio 2, Del Basso 2, Lo Casco 2, Galioto 1, Occhione 1, M. Zammit 1, Maddaluno 1.
Canottieri Naples: Halajian 4, Borrelli 2, Esposito 1, Confuorto 1.
Iren Quinto – Lazio postponed because of bad weather
Savona – Florentia postponed because of bad weather
Sport Management doesn’t have so strong squad as it had in the last season. The club based in the city Busto Arsizio cut its budget last summer. It didn’t enter the European competitions. But, Sport Management proved today that it still has a good team, which is able for big wins.
Sport Management earned an early 2:0 lead. It took almost 11 minutes before, Brescia, the semifinalist of the Euro Cup, scored its first goal (2:1). Still, the home side maintained a 2-goal distance by the end of this period (4:2). Sport Management opened the third quarter with a goal for a 5:2 lead. Brescia responded with two goals to reduce the gap (5:4). But, after that, Sport Management kept Brescia goalless for more than 12 minutes. During that period, the hosts netted three goals and jumped to an 8:4 lead a minute before the end. Brescia’s fifth goal came too late, 30 seconds from the last buzzer.
The hosts’ goalkeeper Gianmarco Nicosia was outstanding this evening. Guiseppe Valentino was the best scorer in the home team with 3 goals. Nicolo Figari scored 3 goals for Brescia
Thanks to this win, Sport Management climbed into the 3rd place of the table, ahead of Brescia.
Pro Recco continued its winning streak, with an easy victory in Naples. The titleholder blew away Posillipo 20:2.
Ortigia, the second-placed team, hosted Salerno. Ortigia led for most of the time, but Salerno kept up with the hosts until the finish of the third quarter. A minute and a half before the end of the third period, Ortigia led 6:5. Then the hosts produced a 3:0 series and extended the margin to 4 (9:5) by the 28th minute. After that, their win wasn’t in danger.
The most thrilling match of the day was played in Rome, where Roma hosted Trieste. At halftime, the score was 6:6, while Roma earned a slim 9:8 advantage before the last quarter. The hosts had a 12:10 lead with 54 seconds to go. But, Trieste netted two goals in the remaining time to secure a point. Steve Camilleri scored 4 goals for Roma. Trieste was led by two former players of Partizan Belgrade – Drasko Gogov (5 goals) and Nemanja Vico (3).
The teams which were winless before the 8th round faced off in Palermo. Telimar, the home team in this encounter, defeated Canottieri Naples 15:8 and recorded its first win in the season.
1 Pro Recco 8 – 24
2 Ortigia 8 – 21
3 Sport Management 8 – 19
4 Brescia 8 – 18
5 Trieste 8 – 14
6 Iren Quinto 7 – 8
7 Roma 8 – 8
8 Savona 7 – 8
9 Florentia 7 – 8
10 Salerno 8 – 8
11 Lazio 7 – 7
12 Posillipo 8 – 5
13 Telimar 8 – 4
14 Canottieri 8 – 1
