Krim cruise past hapless Hypo

It was like good old days - Krim winning at home by a huge margin. Only this Krim is a squad of new, inexperienced no name players.

But they proved that the only thing that counts is the performance. Hypo was stunned by their resolve and will have to up their performance quickly in order to avoid similar defeats against more established sides.

Women’s EHF Champions League Group A

Krim Mercator v Hypo Niederoesterreich 32:20 (15:12)

Krim started well in this dynamic encounter. They quickly went 2:0 up and managed to keep this advantage until the 15th minute.

Then the home coach Marta Bon changed nearly the entire squad, leaving only Tamara Mavsar on the court. Her counterpart Ferenc Kovacs also rotated, only in a more conventional way between defence and offense.

The two-goal lead, produced mainly by Slovenian girls, was doubled in the 21st minute by Krim's "foreign legion".

Hypo switched to a 5+1 defence in order to neutralise the opposition backline and had problems with the veteran home goalie Sergeja Stefanisin, who made nine saves in the first half alone - two of them were penalties. 

Missing penalties (0 from 4) was not Hypo's only problem. Stefanisin was replaced by Misa Marincek, who went one step further and amassed 12 saves in the second half.

The Austrian champions had a dreadful attack conversion of 30 per cent and the deficit grew larger and larger.

Considering the inexperience of Krim's squad, the visitors may have expected that the tide would turn. But in the 47th minute it was 24:17 and in the final minutes Hypo disintegrated, allowing the girls from Ljubljana to counter-attack their way to the final result, an impressive 32:20 victory.

Mirjeta Bajramoska was the hero for Krim with eight goals, while Martina Goricanec and Gorica Acimovic scored four each for Hypo.