Baia Mare and Viborg take major steps towards quarter-finals

HCM Baia Mare and Viborg HK both took major steps towards the quarter-finals of the Women’s EHF Champions League, as they both won their matches in Group 2 on Sunday.

Baia Mare damaged IK Sävehof’s quarter-final hopes with a 34:24 win at home, while Viborg won in Metz 24:23 less than 48 hours after having changed head coach.

GROUP 2

HCM Baia Mare (ROU) vs IK Sävehof (SWE) 34:24 (18:12)

Baia Mare seem to have found form at the right time.

Having started the main round as the only team without a point, the Romanian champions now look like they are on course to the quarter-finals.

On Sunday afternoon, Baia Mare took a further step towards the last eight with their ten-goal win against Sävehof who have now on the back of this defeat lost their last hope of a quarter-final ticket.

From the start, Baia Mare has success with the fast attacking play against a relatively flat Swedish 6-0 defence.

At the same time, Baia Mare had similar success with their aggressive defence.

The home team soon went 6:1 and 7:2 ahead, but after five successive Sävehof goals the score was pulled back to 7:7, this did not shake Baia Mare who did not need much time to create another clear lead, leaving the court six goals up at half-time.

After the break, the hosts continued to be in the driver’s seat much to the pleasure of the 2,080 spectators in the Sala Polivalenta Lascar Pana.

Baia Mare went up by 11 goals before finally winning by ten.

The 21-year-old left back Eliza Buceschi scored no less than 11 goals for Baia Mare who are now fourth in the group with six points, while Sävehof are last on three points.

Metz Handball (FRA) vs Viborg HK (DEN) 23:24 (12:10)

Lars Friis Hansen has gotten off to a perfect start less than 48 hours after taking over from sacked Christian Dalmose as head coach in Viborg.

He saw his new team creep closer to the quarter-finals through their narrow one-goal win in the drama in the Les Arenes in Metz.
Swedish playmaker Isabelle Gulldén was the latest name on the long injury list by the Danish champions, but despite only having ten players in their team sheet, Viborg still managed to take the two crucial points, mainly through tactical cleverness.

Viborg got the better start and were leading 2:0 and 5:3, before the home team got their game going and won the first 30 minutes by two goals.

Viborg were far from beaten, though. Scoring the first five goals of the second half, the visitors went ahead 15:12 and even though Metz came back and equalised, Viborg had the initiative for the rest of the match.

The guests were leading by one or two goals during the last 20 minutes, and a penalty save from Chana Masson De Souza with 25 seconds left meant that the small group of Danish fans in the arena could celebrate a crucial win for the heroines.

Viborg are in third position with seven points, three more than Metz in fifth position.