Big victory of the Russian champions

After a narrow 31-29 defeat in Denmark against Viborg HK in the first round, Zvezda Zvenigorod did considerably better. On Thursday evening Zvenigord hosted the other Danish team in Group 2, Slagelse DT, at home in Chekhov. The Russians won by 39-24 against the Champions League title holders in front of 2,200 spectators.

Once again Slagelse were severely handicapped by injuries, especially in the backcourt line. As goalkeeper Cecilie Leganger is still sidelined after her recent surgery, odds were definitely against the Danish champions.

Russian dominance after equal start

Nevertheless, the match started with an unexpected Slagelse lead, 3-2 after five minutes. Five minutes later, though, Zvezda had changed this into a 6-5 lead in their own favour and in the following 10 minutes Evgeni Trefilov’s team really demonstrated their power. 8 more goals in succession for Zvezda, increasing their lead to 14-5. Though Slagelse managed to come back to 16-10 five minutes before the break, they could not stop the home team that were 20-13 up already at halftime.

In the second half Zvenigorod continued to increase their already comfortable lead without resting and at the end it was 15 goals up (39-24) for the Russian champions.

Slagelse almost out

Ekaterina Andryushina was top scorer of Zvezda Zvenigorod with 9 goals, while Emiliya Turey, Louise Pedersen and Christina Krogshede Nielsen all scored 5 for Slagelse.

The big win brought Zvezda Zvenigorod back into the race for the semi-finals, while it seems that new Champions League winner will be celebrated this year. The defeat in Russia was Slagelse´s second big defeat in two matches after the home game against Hypo Niederösterreich (31-21 last week). It would be extremely difficult for the Danes to reach the semi-finals now.