Slagelse finish group phase with win

Ruling Women’s Champions League winners Slagelse DT ended the group phase with a narrow 26:24 home win over Cementos Union la Raibarroja from Spain in Group A.

Before the match Slagelse were sure to proceed to the main round from second position in the group – without being able to reach the first place - while Ribarroja were just as sure to finish last in the group. Therefore only the pride was at stake in Antvorskovhallen in Slagelse Saturday afternoon.

Handicapped home team

Slagelse were handicapped by many injuries and were practically without natural backcourt players. This meant that the home team had huge scoring problems for great parts of the match. Nevertheless, the 935 spectators did see the hosts take the lead 2:1 and 4:2 at the start of the match. Towards half time, however, the visitors managed to catch up, and after the first 30 minutes the score was equal – 11:11.

The second half became almost as close as the first half hour had been, but during the last 15 minutes Slagelse did manage to make a distance, which actually removed any doubt about the final outcome of the match.

Andersen discontent

In spite of the fact that the many injuries might excuse Slagelse’s scoring problems, head coach Anja Andersen was far from being content with her team’s performance.

“The most positive thing that can be said about today’s match is the fact that we got the two points! We had our chances, but our first half was very poor. We improved a little in the second half, but we still have a long way to go!” said Anja Andersen after the match.

Emiliya Turey and Maja Savic – who are usually both wingers, but who had to play in the backcourt line this Saturday due to the lack of backcourt players – scored 7 goals each for Slagelse, while Maida Aslanigic and Tatjana Medved scored 8 times each for Ribarroja.

The result means that Slagelse finish second in group A behind Györ with 8 points for their 6 matches, while Ribarrajo did not achieve a single point in their Champions League campaign this season.