Jadran Split has won its first-ever Croatian Cup.
The Final Four of the Croatian Cup has finished in Zagreb this evening. Yesterday, Jadran beat Solaris Sibenik, as expected, in the semifinals. This evening, Jadran defeated Jug Dubrovnik 14:11 in the final match.
The Split-based club was the European champion in 1992 and 1993. It won the COMEN Cup in 1995. After that success, a long period without trophies started. This season’s national Cup is the first trophy in national competitions for Jadran since Croatia became an independent state. Jadran was the champion of Yugoslavia nine times, but it never won the Yugoslavian Cup.
The Serbian clubs played the 9th round of the league, the last one in the first half of the regular season.
2021/22 Croatian Cup, Final Four, Zagreb
Semifinals
Jug – Mladost 14:7 (3:1, 5:2, 3:3, 3:1)
Jug: Fatovic 3, Papanastasiou 3, Argyropoulos 2, Jokovic 1, Tomasovic 1, Krzic 1, Kakaris 1, Benic 1, Zuvela 1.
Mladost: Dasic 2, Rakovac 2, Biljaka 1, Vrbnjak 1, Skiljic 1.
Jadran S – Solaris 12:6 (4:1, 2:1, 4:1, 2:3)
Jadran Split: Bukic 3, Kharkov 3, Cagalj 2, Buric 1, Butic 1, Pejkovic 1, Delic 1.
Solaris: Goreta 1, Pelicaric 1, Penava 1, Koprcina 1, Sparada 1, Condic Kadmenovic 1.
FINAL
Jadran S – Jug 14:11 (5:1, 5:5, 2:0, 2:5)
Jadran Split: Bukic 5, Marinic Kragic 2, Butic 2, Setka 2, Cagalj 1, Dobud 1, Duzevic 1.
Jug AO: Argyropoulos 5, Fatovic 2, Krzic 2, Jokovic 1, Benic 1.
There were no surprises in the semifinals. Jug and Jadran were favorites. Neither of the teams had problems in the semis.
Jadran Split dominated in the final game. It opened the game excellently. Jug tried to come back two times (in the second and in the fourth quarter), but with no success.
The first quarter set the tone of the match. By the middle of the first period, Jadran built a 3:0 lead. Thirty seconds before the first break, Zvonimir Butic made it 4:0. Jug earned a penalty shot in the next possession. Alexandros Papanastasiou made no mistake from the 5m line and Jug got on the scoreboard 14 seconds before the end of the first (1:4). However, Setka responded immediately, so Jadran entered the second period leading 5:1.
Jadan kept its momentum after the first break and went to 8:2 (11th minute). After that, Jug started coming back. The Dubrovnik-based team netted three straight goals and halved the gap (5:8) in the 14th minute. Jadran head coach Mile Smodlaka called a time-out after Jug’s fifth goal. Jadran consolidated during that break. Marinic Kragic ended Jadran’s goalless phase (9:5). The Split-based team maintained a 4-goal difference until the middle break.
Both teams missed a lot of chances in the third period. Defenses worked well. Still, Jadran didn’t concede a single goal in the third quarter, while it scored two – both with a power-play advantage. Bukic found the net in the 28th minute, Cagalj converted a man-up for 12:6 two minutes after.
Jug found its rhythm after the last break and reduced the gap to two goals (11:13) with 71 seconds remaining on the clock. Still, Jadran’s win wasn’t in big danger. Andjelo Setka scored for 14:11 in the 32nd minute and sealed Jadran’s victory.
All winners
1992: Mladost, 1993: Mladost , 1994: Jug, 1995: Primorje, 1996: Jug, 1997:/98: Mladost, 1998: Mladost, 1999: POSK, 2000: Jug, 2001: Mladost, 2002: Jug, 2003: Jug, 2004: Jug, 2005: Mladost , 2006: Jug , 2007: Jug, 2008: Jug, 2009: Jug, 2010: Mladost, 2011: Mladost , 2012: Primorje, 2013: Primorje, 2014: Primorje,2015: Jug, 2016: Jug, 2017: Jug, 2018: Jug, 2019: Mladost, 2020: Mladost , 2021: Jadran Split.
Jadran’s ladies also clinch national Cup
Tonight was a great evening for Jadran. Before the encounter between Jadran and Jug, the final of the Croatian Cup for women was played.
The female team of Jadran Split won its first Croatian Cup beating Mladost after a penalty shootout – 13:12 (2:2, 2:2, 3:4, 3:2, PSO 3:2).
This was the first trophy in the national competitions for Jadran’s ladies.
2021/22 Serbian League, Day 9
Sabac – Crvena Zvezda 4:7 (0:1, 3:3, 1:2, 0:1)
Vojvodina – Novi Beograd 6:18 (3:5, 2:4, 1:6,0:3)
Valis – Radnicki 9:13 (1:3, 2:5, 3:3, 4:2)
Proleter – Partizan 10:20 (1:6, 1:5, 3:5, 5:4)
Nais – Zemun 10:8 (3:3, 2:2, 1:1, 4:2)
The first half of the regular season in the Serbian League has been completed with the 9th round.
The derby was an encounter between two former national champions – Sabac and Crvena Zvezda played in Sabac. Crvena Zvezda was a favorite and proved that in a low-scoring game. The visitors led for most of the time, but Sabac kept up with Crvena Zvezda until the middle of the third period. In the 21st minute, it stood 4:5. Then, Radovic doubled the visitors’ advantage. Only one goal was scored in the last quarter. Djurdjic converted a man-up for the final score – Crvena Zvezda won 7:4.Subotic, Pjesivac, and Radovic scored two goals each for Crvena Zvezda, Djurdjic added one. The scorers for the home side were Tubic (2), Koptsev (1) and Sulc (1).
Other favorites recorded easy wins. Novi Beograd blew away Vojvodina 18:6, with four goals from Dusan Mandic and three from Strahinja Rasovic.
The MVP of the World U20 Championships Marko Radulovic netted three goals to help Radnicki defeat Valis 13:9.
Partizan beat Proleter 20:10. Mitrovic, Velkic and Barac scored three goals apiece for the winning team.
1. Novi Beograd 9 – 27
2. Partizan 9 – 24
3. Radnicki 9 – 21
4. Crvena Zvezda 9 – 18
5. Sabac 9 – 15
6. Vojvodina 9 – 10
7. Valis 9 – 10
8. Proleter 9 – 4
9. Nais 9 – 3
10. Zemun 9 – 1
More news about water polo in Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro