Szeged seal Last 16 berth in Ukraine

Jose Manuel Sierra Mendez came up with yet another outstanding performance for MOL-Pick Szeged as the Hungarian outfit comfortably beat HC Motor Zaporozhye in Ukraine on Wednesday. Szeged are on a five-game winning streak and will play Kielce for first place in Group D next week.

Group D
HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) vs. MOL-Pick Szeged (HUN) 25:29 (12:16)

It was a clutch game for both teams – Motor had the chance to leave Schaffhausen behind and cement their fourth place in Group D, while Szeged wanted to continue their excellent run to book their place in the Last 16.

Juan Carlos Pastor’s team got off to a great start, playing a 5-1 defence backed by Sierra. Sierra showed early on that he was picking up where he left off last week, when he was voted goalkeeper of the week.

Motor made too many technical mistakes in attack to keep pace with the Hungarian runners-up, and with goals pouring in from Dean Bombac and Zsolt Balogh, the visitors threatened to decide the game before the half-time break.

But Motor refused to give up and came back to a four-goal deficit with a great run and a few nice saves from Valentyn Koshovy. Sierra remained excellent in Szeged’s goal however, so the host’s run of goals dried out after the break.

The visitors once again changed speed to edge ahead by six goals before Sergiy Onufryienko came to Zaporozhye’s rescue and kept the home side in the game.

Seven minutes from the final whistle Motor were breathing down their visitors’ neck, but Sierra kept Szeged ahead with yet another outstanding performance.

The Hungarian outfit’s first 30 minutes were so strong they scored just 12 goals in the second half (after banging in 17 in the first) to seal their four-goal victory.

Szeged remain second on the group table and have now qualified for the knockout stage, while Motor stay in fourth place.