The Italian champion Brescia fell already in the first game of the playoffs of the national championships.
Trieste earned a narrow 11:10 victory over Brescia in the first match of the semifinals.
Pro Recco made no mistake. The European champion blew Salerno away – 14:6
Quinto and Telimar opened the playoffs for the classification 5th-8th with wins
2021/22 Italian League, playoffs
Semifinals, 1st – 4th place (best of three)
Brescia – Trieste 10:11 (3:4, 3:2, 2:2, 2:3)
Brescia: Dolce 3, Gitto 3, E. Di Somma 2, Bicari 1, Luongo 1.
Trieste: Inaba 4, Razzi 1, Bini 1, Podgornik 1, Buljubasic 1, M.Vrlic 1, Bego 1, M.Mezzarobba 1.
Pro Recco – Savona 14:6 (2:1, 6:4, 3:0, 3:1)
Pro Recco: Cannella 3, Younger 2, Zalanki 2, Aicardi 2, Di Fulvio 1, Ivovic 1, Bertoli 1, Echenique 1, Hallock 1.
Savona: Fondelli 3, Campopiano 2, Bruni 1.
Trieste beat Brescia at home in the regular season (13:12), but the title-holder took revenge in the second half of the Championship (15:11). Trieste wasn’t an underdog in this encounter. Still, Brescia was a favorite. The title-holders have played better and better in the past few months in the Italian League and the and Champions League. Therefore, many believed that they would record a win today.
But, Trieste opened the match better. The visitors had a 2:0 and 3:1. In the middle of the second period, Brescia went ahead (5:4, 6:5), but the sides were tied at 6:6 at halftime. Before the final quarter, the score was 8:8. Edoardo Di Somma opened the fourth period with an action goal to put Brescia in front (9:8). But, the visitors replied with two power-play goals (Inaba and Podgornik) and earned a 10:9 advantage. Di Somma leveled at 10:10 (31st minute). However, the visitors had the last laugh. Bini converted a man up with 36 seconds left on the clock and Trieste emerged as a winner – 10:11
A Japanese Yusuke Inaba led the winning team with four goals.
Pro Recco defeated Savona convincingly, but the European champion needed a lot of time to break the visiting team. In the 15th minute, only two goals separated the rivals (7:5). Just 16 seconds before the end of the first half, Aaron Younger converted a man-up for 8:5. The hosts consolidated their defense after the middle break. They produced a 4:0 run to earn a safe 12:5 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The second matches will be played on May 14.
Semifinals, 5th – 8th place (best of three)
Ortigia – Quinto 5:6 (1:2, 2:1, 1:3, 1:0)
Ortigia: A.Condemi 2, F.Condemi 1, Di Luciano 1, Rossi 1.
Iren Quinto Genoa: Guidi 2, Panerai 2, Nora 1, Di Somma 1.
Telimar – Salerno 9:4 (4:0, 2:1, 2:1, 1:2)
Telimar: Vlahovic 3, Del Basso 2, Lo Dico 2, Basic 1, Lo Cascio 1.
Salerno: Cuccovillo 1, Fortunato 1, M.Luongo 1, Esposito 1.
Iren Quinto upset Ortigia in the first game of the 5th-place playoffs. The team from Genoa recorded a narrow win in a low-scoring encounter. After a 3:3 first half, Iren netted three straight goals –Guidi 2 and Panerai (all three with an extra player) and jumped to 6:3. In the 24th minute, the hosts came close (4:6). Midway through the fourth period, the Sicilians reduced the gap to one (5:6), but they didn’t go further.
The other Sicilian club Telimar Palermo cruised to a victory over Salerno. Telimar dominated in the first quarter and entered the second period with a 4:0 advantage. AT halftime, it stood 6:1. In the first minute of the second half, Telimar’s Andrija Vlahovic converted a penalty shot to a 7:1 lead and there was no way back for Salerno.
