Spanish League: Closely-fought games across division

March 26, 2023

Photo: Sergi Crespi.

Matchday 19 probably saw the tightest set of games of the whole season so far, with only one team – Sabadell – really winning by a huge margin.

The reigning champions downed Catalunya 21-8 with a typically emphatic attacking team performance. Sabadell stays second behind Mataro, with a game in hand.

Mataro themselves were in action in the most interesting game of the week against Mediterrani; Dani Ballarts’ team won by three scores (12-9). Terrassa produced the same sort of performance against Tenerife (12-9).

Andreu were not given an easy ride on their trip to Rubi. They won, but it was no picnic for the third ranked team in the league (10-7). Meanwhile, Barceloneta solidified its spot in eighth with a late push over Sant Feliu (12-10), and in the game between the two teams from outside Catalonia, Zaragoza secured their first win of the season against the travelling side from Madrid, Boadilla.

2022/23 Women’s Spanish League, Day 19

CE Mediterrani 9 – 12 CN Mataro (2-2, 1-3, 5-3, 1-4)
Mediterrani: I. Costa, A. Munoz, A. Crevier, A. Marcos 1, P. Prats, C. Rodriguez, C. Espar 1, D. Moreno 1, M. Viladot, H. Dalmases, P. Crespi 1, S. Lizotte 5, G. Palm
Mataro: E. Sanchez, S. Morell, S. Van de Kraats 4, A. Gual 1, V. Sevenich 1, R. Keszthelyi-Nagy 3, C. Cambray, C. Nogue, S. Avegno 2, Q. Bertran, R. Gurri, M. Claveria 1, E. Carmona Herrera

CN Catalunya 8 – 21 Astralpool Sabadell (0-4, 4-7, 1-6, 3-4)
Catalunya: M. Terre, C. Ball, C. Diaz 3, O. Tarrino, G.Bellido, B. Pascual 1, R. Schuijt 1, J. Frigola, C. Leonard 2, S. Diaz, M. Van Rijn, G. Ribo, H. Perez
Sabadell: L. Ester, M. Ortiz 1, P. Leiton, S. Van der Sloot 3, M. Serrano 1, M. Steffens 1, E. Ruiz 3, M. Garcia 3, J. Forca 2, B. Ortiz 3, N. Perez 2, I. Gonzalez 2, M. Carrasco

Tenerife Echeyde 9 – 12 CN Terrassa (2-4, 2-3, 4-1, 1-4)
Tenerife: J. Gaudreault, M. Sagrera, C. Rio 1, B. McDowell, E. Dominguez, J. Rodriguez, J. Bennasar, J. Luis, M. Ramos 2, E. Alcon 2, E. Nicholson 4, A. Sanchez, F. Perez Paez.
Terrassa: S. Domene, L. Ferrer, K. Paul 1, N. Cuenda 1, C. Cantero, D. Quinzada, N. Ten Broek, P. Pena 1, D. Menakerman, P. Camus 4, A. Finestra, F. Bosveld 4, E. Monllor

ESC Zaragoza 11 – 10 CD Boadilla (3-2, 2-1, 3-3, 3-4)
Zaragoza: I. Moreno, A. Escolano, M. Ciudad 4, I. Betran 1, S. Lorente, N. Coloma Morte, N. Manero 4, A. Sarinena, R. Fernandez, S. Perez Burgos 1, L. Gomez, J. Tazueco, S. Betran
Boadilla: C. Palacios, A. Wu 1, L. Alvarez 1, J. Rovira, L. Campos, M. Peragon 1, E. Castellanos, M. De Quinta, E. Prieto 2, R. Bertran 1, A. Garcia 1, G. Gallinato 3, P. Moreno Quinones

CN Rubi 7 – 10 Sant Andreu (3-2, 1-2, 1-4, 2-2
Rubi: E. Jiminez, A. Roldan, C. Penalver, C. Abellan, M. Ungria, A. Rodriguez 1, L. Rion, C. Moreno 2, R. Prieto, J. Prados, E. Vesperinas, A. Trivino 4, N. Montero
Sant Andreu: A. Lorca, A. Rego, N. Perez, Q. Boixadera, G. La Farre Colominas 4, H. Shabb 2, M. Cordobes, E. Lemay-Lavoie, I. Martinez, T. Prentice 1, M. Palacio 1, A. Ruiz 2, M. Terre

CN Sant Feliu 10 – 12 Zodiac CNAB (2-3, 1-4, 4-1, 3-4)
Sant Feliu: N. Trojan, J. Benasco, M. Bargallo 3, A. Temprano, B. Goset 1, L. Rocha Herrera 2, M. Gomez, M. Manchego, I. Almeda 1, J. Panicello 2, N. Vidondo, J. Figueroa, P. Carilla.
CNAB: A. Colomina, P. Fernandez, N. Martin 2, C. Buscarons, N. Josifovic, J. Cereijo 1, U. Del Sol Agusti, N. Mandic 2, I. Piralkova 5, R. Tarrago 2, S. Garcia, M. Forte, B. Colominas

The first two games of the weekend in the women’s Division de Honor ended the same way, with Mataro defeating Mediterrani at Josep Valles 12-9, while Terrassa also won on the road by the same margin in Santa Cruz.

Mataro had the potential to slip up at Medi, but they were the stronger side on the day, despite Mediterrani’s best efforts. After a nul first quarter (2-2), Dani Ballart’s Champions League semi-finalists pulled away in the second, via two of Simone Van de Kraats four goals. Keszthelyi-Nagy, the league’s best scorer, extended the Marseme’s lead to four scores in the third (7-3), but Medi showed excellent spirit to fight back to 8-8 before the third quarter buzzer, led by their captain Sarah Lizotte, and an equalising score from Clara Espar with a second left. Mataro , who were guilty of sleep-walking through the second half of the game, then put Medi down for good, restoring a sizable gap; with goals from three foreigners (Keszthelyi, Sevenich and Avegno) to lead 11-8. With two minutes to play Lizotte grabbed her fifth of the game, before Van de Kraats slotted home her fourth goal of the game from the 5m line to wrap up the win for the visitors.

Mataro have the leagues top two goal-scorers. Rita Keszthelyi is top with 77 goals, while Simone Van de Kraats trails by just one score, with 76 goals this season. Combined (153), thats more goals than Boadilla (122) have scored all season.

Terrassa eventually out-fought a determined Tenerife side in Santa Cruz, but the win wasn’t without its complications. Like in the game between Mataro and Mediterrani, Terrassa stretched away, leading 5-3, and then 7-4. However, Echeyde fought back to level the contest at 7-7, before taking a eyebrow-raising lead via Kiwi centre Emily Nicholson (8-7). Into the last though, Terrassa showed their stamina, finding key goals from their leading attackers; Fleurien Bosveld netted twice (as she had done in the opening quarter), while Paula Camus also added a fourth goal, before Dar Menakerman added a insult to injury with Xavi Perez’s team’s twelfth goal, thirteen seconds from time. Terrassa are still in with a shout to make the top-four and the championship play-offs. For Echeyde, that ambitious dream is now over.

The top-four teams progress into the championship play-offs. First takes on fourth in the semi-finals, while second faces third.

There wasn’t much to get excited about in the game featuring Sabadell and Catalunya at Can Toda, with the reigning Spanish Champions dominating 21-8. Ten Sabadell players featured on the scoresheet, with four players registering hat-tricks (Van der Sloot, Elena Ruiz, Maica Garcia and Bea Ortiz). A 4-0 first quarter looked ominous for Cata, with Sabadell’s lead soon becoming 6-0 early in the second period. Catalunya improved, and finally found a way to breach the Sabadell defence with four goals in the second, but Gabor Egedi’s team kept shifting goals at the back (11-4). Long before the final whistle, the game was in the bag for David Palma’s Sabadell; Four straight scores in the third made the scoreline look unflattering (15-4).

Sant Andreu, who remain third in the standings, had a closer contest than expected against Rubi, eventually running out 10-7 winners at Can Roses. With Andreu still showing fragility from their penalty-defeat to Terrassa, Rubi were the better side throughout the first half, leading for the majority of the time. Ariadna Ruiz, formerly of Rubi, levelled at 4-4 just before half-time. Three straight scores then dealt Rubi a bitter blow, with a brace from Gisel La Farre Colominas, as well as a finish from USA international Hanna Shabb, put Andreu out ahead at 7-4. From there, Rubi never really recovered, and Andreu took the points back to the city.

There were two incredibly close games at bottom end of the table, with Zaragoza bagging their first win of the season against fellow strugglers CD Boadilla (11-10), and Barceloneta edging past Sant Feliu, 12-10.

The team at the bottom of the table come the end of the season is automatically relegated. The top teams from the Pimera Division engage in a play-off in a bid for promotion.

Firstly in Zaragoza, a team down in twelfth (that hadn’t won a single game this season) faced the team in eleventh. Paula Esteban’s team from Aragon knew that a win would take them level on points with their opponents from Madrid, and keep their status in Spain’s top league alive. Zaragoza looked good – spurred on by a wonderful crowd – and from the moment they took the lead inside the first attack from Ines Rosales Betran, they never fell behind. An important goal at the beginning and end of the second quarter gave the hosts a vital two score lead (4-2, 5-3), which they held heading into the final eight minutes. Within the first attack of the 4th quarter, Miriam Ciudad converted a really well taken extra-player move for Zaragoza to throw them to 9-6, which looked like it would be pivotal, but to Boadilla’s credit, they found three straight scores in two minutes (Gallinato, Gonzalez, and Ruano Prieto) to pull themselves back into the duel (9-9). However, despite the brief wobble, Zaragoza netted two back-to-back scores to seal some important points.

There was a topsy-turvy game at Sant Feliu, but after all the twists and turns, it was Barceloneta who came out on top, winning 12-10 with two late scores. Five goals from Spanish U19, Isabel Piralkova – who arrived from Mataro in the summer – proved crucial. The game took a bit of a strange path; CNAB led by a single score after eight minutes, but a hat-trick from Isabel Piralkova in the second, complimented by a strong finish from Roser Tarrago, had Barceloneta up 7-3 at the turnaround. Jordi Timblau’s Sant Feliu showed real grit though, and scored the next three goals to keep the game alive (8-7). Barca looked home and dry when they were twice back to a two goal lead (9-7 and 10-8), but remarkably, after a missed penalty from Roser Tarrago in the fourth, Sant Feliu tied the game with under two minutes to play with quick-fire strikes by Herrera and Goset Reche (10-10). However, Marc Comas’ team stayed composed, and the previous two scorers in the quarter, Martin and Mandic, both repeated inside the last minute and a half of the game to seal important points for one of the division’s newest teams.