Historic weekend for Iceland´s women

Never in the history of women’s handball had Iceland been able to defeat Sweden in an international match, but that run ended over the weekend.

However, when the ladies from the saga island finally succeeded in winning, they managed to do it again the following day.

Both friendlies between the two countries in Austurberg in Iceland ended with victories for the hosts. On Saturday Iceland won 25:24 and the home win was even a bit clearer on Sunday, 30:27.

After the first 14 internationals between the two nations had ended with Swedish wins, Iceland finally managed to get a draw in a test match before the EHF EURO 2012, and this weekend they managed to land wins in meeting number 16 and 17.

In the Saturday match Sweden were leading during the first half and were up 13:12 at half-time, but for most of the last 30 minutes, Iceland had the upper hand and a lead of one to three goals before finally winning by one.

“We were leading at half time, and our game worked well so far. After the break we lost structure in our attacking play and conceded some goals on fast breaks.

“We have some new players and some of our established girls are playing in other positions than they are used to,” Sweden´s national coach Torbjörn Klingvall explained after the match.

Ramune Pekaskyte was Iceland´s top scorer with six goals, while Sabina Jacobsen and Isabelle Gulldén scored six each for Sweden.

The Sunday match did not grant any revenge to Klingvall´s team. Even though Sweden were leading 16:14 at half time, Iceland were on top for most of the 60 minutes, at one point even ahead by five goals, and at the end the distance was three goals for the hosts.

“We should be better than Iceland, but we also want to make some experiments and try to let all players play, and if we should do so, it should be now. I think our first half was good, but in the second things got a bit worse,” Torbjörn Klingvall said.

Rut Jonsdottir was the top scorer for Iceland with seven goals in the second game, Isabelle Gulldén struck five times for Sweden.