Vouliagmeni shocks Brescia; Recco’s defense stops Ferencvaros

The evening session of the quarterfinal day of the Champions League Final Eight in Belgrade brought a first big surprise.

Vouliagmeni edged out Brescia 11:10 and advanced to the semifinals, making a historic success for the Greek club.

Reigning champion Pro Recco played excellently in defense and beat Ferencvaros 8:4. The Hungarians couldn’t score a goal in the last 12 minutes.

The conditions for the play were something that was expected, considering the weather forecast. The duel between Vouliagmeni and Brescia was stopped for 20 minutes due to a thunderstorm. The rain that started during the second period of that match didn’t stop until the end of the day.

SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY
Thursday, 1st June – Semifinals, 5th – 8th place – 15:30: losers: Jug – Olympiacos, 18:30: Brescia – Ferencvaros.
Semifinals, 1st – 4th place – 17:00: Barceloneta – Novi Beograd, 20:00: Pro Recco – Vouliagmeni

2023 Final Eight Belgrade, Quarterfinals 3 and 4

Brescia – Vouliagmeni 10:11 (3:4,3:4, 1:0, 3:3)

Brescia: Tesanovic, Dolce 1, C.Presciutti, Gianazza 1, Lazic, Vapenski 1, Renzuto Iodice 2, Kharkov, Alsiani 2, Luongo 2, Di Somma 1,  Gitto, Baggi Necchi. Head coach: Bovo.

Vouliagmeni: Tzortzatos,Chalyvopoulos, Almyras, Kalogeropoulos 3, Troulos 4, Nikolaidis 1, Papasifakis, Woodhead, Alafragkis, Kapotsis Kourovanis 1, Farmer 1, Andreadis. Head coach: Vujasinovic.

Vladimir Vujasinovic, Vouliagmeni’s head coach, said that bad weather and possible breaks due to thunderstorms would suit his team because Vouliagmeni used to play in such conditions since its home is an outdoor pool during the entire season.

And his wish came true. The rain started during the second quarter. The big break between the two halves lasted for 20 minutes because of the thunderstorm.

But, the bad weather didn’t help Vouliagmeni significantly. Vouliagmeni made a crucial difference while the conditions for play were normal – before the rain. They let Brescia equalize just once in the first half (2:2). At the first break, the Greeks led 4:3. After three minutes of play they stretched the margin to three (6:3), and maintained the difference until 8:5. Boris Vapenski closed the first period with an action goal for 6:8.

Then, a 20-minute break, forced by heavy rain and thunderstorm, started.

Shortly after the first whistle in the second half, Brescia narrowed the distance to one. Vincenzo Dolce found the net in Brescia’s first possession, and the Italians’ fans hoped their team could return.

But Vouliagmeni continued controlling the game. They imposed their rhythm. The Greeks played excellently in defense.

Brescia had the first possession in the final quarter and a chance to level the score. Still, Tzortzatos saved a shot from Vapenski. Then, a penalty foul was awarded for Brescia due to Boris Vapenski’s personal foul. However, the referees delayed a penalty shot. After a few minutes of discussing, they excluded Brescia’s goalkeeper Petar Tesanovic, too. So, Kalogeropoulos didn’t have a demanding task, because Alesiani was between Brescia’s posts for that penalty. Kalogeropoulos made no mistake and doubled his team’s advantage to 9:7. A minute after, Troulos scored for 10:7. In the middle of the fourth period, Vouliagmeni led 11:8.

Brescia desperately tried to come back and was very close to equalizing. Renzuto Iodice converted a man-up for 10:11. There was still a lot of time left on the clock – 03:24 minutes, but Vouliagmeni held back all Brescia’s comeback attempts. In the final two minutes, the Greeks even killed Brescia’s double man-up and saved a slim but big win in a thrilling finish. Brescia had the ball in the last eight seconds but didn’t equalize and the Greeks started celebrating a great success.

Pro Recco – Ferencvaros 8:4 (3:2, 2:0, 2:2, 1:0)

Pro Recco: Del Lungo, Di Fulvio, Zalanki 2, Cannella 1, Younger 2, Fondelli 1, N.Presciutti 1, Echenique, Ivovic, Velotto, Loncar, Hallock, Negri. Head coach: Sukno.

Ferencvaros: Vogel, Molnar, Pohl, Merkulov 2, Argyropoulos, Nagy, Fekete 1, Ven Vigvari 1, Nemet, Varga, Jansik, Damonte, Szakonyi. Head coach: Zs. Varga.

Ferencvaros opened the scoring. After less than a minute of play, Merkulov scored for 1:0, but Fondelli leveled at 1:1 immediately and added two goals by the middle of the quarter for a 3:1 lead. The reigning champion entered the second period leading 3:2. The Italians’ defense worked perfectly in the second period, so the reigning champion had a nice 3-goal lead at halftime.

Still, Ferencvaros didn’t say its last word yet. By the middle of the third quarter, the Hungarians cut the deficit to one with two powerplay goals from Fekete and Merkulov (the second was from a 6 on 4). However, Recco’s leftie, Gergo Zalanki, who played for Ferencvaros for a long, took the match into his own hands. By the end of the quarter he found the net twice, and Recco rebuilt a 3-goal lead (7:4)

In the middle of the fourth quarter Nicholas Presciutti netted a nice lob for 8:4 and sank Ferencvaros’ last hope.

Recco’s defense, commanded by Del Lungo (18 saves), was outstanding in the fourth quarter and Recco secured itself a peaceful ending of the match.

POST-GAMES QUOTES