Thüringer’s big victory kicks Krim out of the competition

A decisive victory over RK Krim Mercator at home on Sunday put Thüringer HC in a strong position to continue to the quarter-final phase of the Women’s EHF Champions League.

The German side's victory means Krim is the first team with no chance to progress to the next phase.

Thüringer HC (GER) vs RK Krim Mercator (SLO) 33:21 (17:10)

Though Herbert Müller’s side displayed flashes of brilliant offensive play, the packed hall in Nordhausen witnessed a gruelling start of the game.

Both teams had trouble scoring early on, trading costly turnovers. Krim broke the deadlock after almost five minutes, but quickly faltered.

After fifteen minutes of play, it was Thüringer who kicked their attack up a gear.

Easy balls won in defence produced a flurry of counter attacks that were effortlessly converted by the host’s wings. A 7:1 run for Thüringer in only six minutes turned the game on its head and in their favour.

Without Allison Pineau, who left Krim by mutual agreement, the Slovenian champions were not properly equipped to attempt a comeback and trailed by a seven-goal margin (17:10) at the break.

It was no surprise that the German champions continue their onslaught in the second half, extending their lead to 14 goals. Krim trimmed the advantage in the final seconds to 12 goals, but it was too little too late.

Katrin Engel, Lydia Jakubisova, Nadja Nadgornaja and Danick Snelder were Thuringer’s top scorers with five goals apiece, while Liliya Artsiukhovich and Tamara Mavsar scored four goals each for Krim.

Thüringer now continue the fight for third place in the Group 1 standings, while Krim is mathematically out of this year’s competition.