Thüringer overwhelm Glassverket as Luzumova shines

This season’s Women’s EHF Champions League is set to be a learning curve for debutants Glassverket IF, who suffered a 24:16 defeat at Thüringer after the German side stifled out their inexperienced Norwegian rivals.

• Thüringer limit Norwegian debutants to just four first-half goal
• Emilie Christensen scored first-ever Women’s EHF Champions League goal for Glassverket, ended with eight strikes from 12 attempts
• Fired-up Iveta Luzumova led Thüringer’s charge

GROUP A

Thüringer HC (GER) vs Glassverket (NOR) 24:16 (10:4)

Thüringer made a perfect start to their Women’s EHF Champions League campaign with a resounding home win against competition debutants, Glassverket, who endured a rough start at the elite level.

Goal to remember

Centre back Emilie Christensen scored the opening goal for the Norwegian side, their first-ever in Europe’s premier club competition, but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

Led by Czech centre back Iveta Luzumova, Thüringer scored the next four goals as Glassverket took 10 minutes before they found the back of the net again.

Attack stopped

The Norwegian side, coached by Geir Oustorp, struggled in attack, not least because the home team’s goalkeeper Dinah Eckerle saved two successive penalties, while Luzumova rifled in four first-half goals at the other end.

In a low-scoring first half a steely defensive display gave Thüringer a commanding six-goal half-time lead – 10:4 – and it was clear that Glassverket faced a difficult task to keep the deficit down after the break.

Poor finishing

The Norwegian side suffered from poor finishing as they missed another two seven-metre penalty shots, with Eckerle saving one while the other cannoned off the crossbar.

Thüringer were ruthless at the other end of the court and their advantage soared to 13:4 in the 35th minute, much to the delight of a noisy home crowd sporting the club’s traditional red-and-back colours.

Glassverket staged a mini-revival and slashed the gap to 14:8 in the 40th minute, as the hosts appeared to take their foot off of the gas pedal.

But any hopes of a complete comeback that they might have had were dashed after Thüringer moved up a gear again, engineering a 19:11 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

Luzumova and Elena Pintea led Thüringer’s balanced scoring effort with four goals each, while the outstanding Christensen was by some way Glassverket’s top performer with a game-high eight goals from 12 shots.

Photo: Glassverket Twitter