Olympiacos retained the crown in Greece. The Red Whites beat Vouliagmeni in the third match of the final of the Greek Championships 11:7 and lifted their 11th consecutive and 37th trophy of national champion in total.
Even though four goals separated the rivals at the end of the game, it was a really “crazy” encounter. Vouliagmeni dominated in the first quarter and took a 4:0 lead. But, Olympiacos managed to come back into the match and record the victory, thanks to a 6:0 run in the second quarter.
2022/23 Greek League, playoffs, final (best of five), Match 3
Olympiacos – Vouliagmeni 11;7 (0:4, 4:1, 4:0, 3:2) – the score in the series 3:0
Olympiacos:Zerdevas, Vamos 2, Dimos 1, Genidounias 2, Fountoulis, Gouvis, Dervisis 1, Buslje, Mourikis 1, Grammatikos, Papanastasiou 3, Damigos, Gkillas 1, Liantziris. Head coach: Milanovic.
Vouliagmeni: Tzortzatos, Chalivopoulos, Kastrinakis, Kalogeropoulos 2, Troulos, Nikolaidis, Papasifakis 2, Woodhead 1, Alafragis 1, Kapotsis, Kourouvanis 1, Farmer, Andreadis, Almyras, Konstantopoulos.
As the result shows, Vouliagmeni took a flying start. The visitors rushed to a 3:0 in the first five minutes with three action goals. Kalogeropoulos closed the first period with a goal from a penalty to give Vouliagmeni a 4:0 lead.
The hosts regrouped themselves during the middle break and responded in the same way – with four goals in a row in the second quarter.
Genidounias netted two with a man-up, and Dervisis added one, also from an extra player. Alexandros Papanastasiou leveled the score at 4:4 from a counter-attack just 48 seconds before the end of the first half. Vouliagmeni got a man-up in its last possession in the first half. Dylan Woodhead found the net 12 seconds before the middle break to give Vouliagmeni a slim 5:4 lead before the second half of the match.
The third quarter was crucial for the outcome. Marton Vamos leveled at 5:5 in the 17th minute. Three and a half minutes after, Gkillas put Olympiacos in front for the first time. By the end of the quarter the hosts scored two goals (Vamos and Papanastasiou) for a solid 8:5 advantage before the final eight minutes.
Olympiacos continued its domination in the fourth quarter and went to 10:5 with two goals in the first two minutes of the final quarter (Mourikis and Papanastasiou). Vouliagmeni didn’t recover from a shocking 0:6 series.
Olympiacos is now just one title away from the record-holder Ethnikos.
All champions – 38 titles: Ethnikos, 37: Olympiacos, 8: Patras, 4: Aris, 4: Glyfada, 4:Vouliagmeni, 1: Peiraikos 1.
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