10 Van der Heijden goals help FTC to first win

Dutch international Laura van der Heijden scored 10 goals as FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria beat Larvik 37:33 for their maiden win of the Women’s EHF Champions League season.

Larvik suffered their second straight defeat, and conceded the most goals in a single match in their Champions League history.

• FTC got their first win, Larvik their second successive defeat

• Van der Heijden scored 10 for FTC, Breistøl nine for Larvik

GROUP C

FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) vs Larvik (NOR) 37:33 (18:15)

Laura van der Heijden played a considerable part in FTC's first win in the group matches. The Dutch right back, who joined the club from Esbjerg this season, scored 10 goals.

"I am really happy that I scored so many goals," said Van der Heijden, who was voted EHF Player of the Month in October last year. "But it is more important that we gained the two points as a team. This was a special evening for me as my parents visited me and came to the match."

Larvik conceded the largest amount of goals in their Champions League history, breaking their previous ‘record’ of 36 by one.

Larvik were missing pregnant right wing Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren as well as injured back court player Tine Stange and left wing Thea Mørk.

Still, the Norwegian champions got the better start and led 3:1 and 4:2. It did not take FTC long to take the initiative and a 3:0 partial gave them their first lead at 5:4.

The hosts concluded the first half with a three-goal lead (18:15) and seemed to have decided the match when they went six goals ahead at 33:27.

With Kristine Breistøl the most scoring player with nine goals, Larvik reduced the gap to three but failed to get closer.

Despite the win, FTC coach Gabor Elek was not completely satisfied.

"We could not provide the necessary defending," he said. "At least our attacks were good."

Larvik coach Tor Odvar Moen said his team's "defence was not strong enough. But we are a young team and have a lot to learn yet. FTC are a better team and I did not expect such a close result so I am really proud of my team."