Hungary to face Norway, France play Germany as semi-finals decided
The fifth day of matches for the best young women’s teams in Europe was full of action, passion and strong goalkeeping and after the dust settled, the four semi-finalists are now known.
All games of the Women’s 17 EHF EURO will be live on ehfTV.
Main Round
In Main Round Group 1, Denmark were beaten by just two goals (20:18) against Germany, who they had trailed by five at the break (12:7). Their comeback, inspired by 10 goals from their best player Emilie Bodholdt Steffensen, just fell short as Charley Zenner in the German goal kept the Danish shooters out with a performance worthy of the best player award.
Aimee von Pereira and Dana Bleckmann were deadly for the Germans, scoring six each as they progressed to the semi-finals.
Hungary confirmed their semi-final spot, beating Russia 25:19 (11:9) as another goalkeeper was awarded best player, with Noemi Magera making the mark for Hungary in goal. At the other end Greta Kacsor scored seven goals. Magera was joined for her award by Nadezhda Kolesnikova in the Russian goal who won the award for her side.
Hungary and Germany went through to the semi-finals, finishing at the top of their group on five points each with Denmark in third with two points and Russia fourth without a point to their name.
Spain had a battle on their hands as they eventually beat Romania 25:23 (14:14) in Main Round Group 2, scoring all their goals from open play, without a single penalty converted.
Danila Patricia Sodelgao Pinto was their best player as Diana Cristiana Ciuca in the Romanian goal provided another best player performance for her side but it was not enough, despite a late time-out from her coach Ivan Ion with just 50 seconds left.
Norway, with a semi-final berth already secured, were well-beaten by a dominant French side 26:19 (14:10) and it could have been more as Norwegian goalkeeper Eli Skogstrand Smorgrav put in a best player performance between the posts, while the award went to Emma Jacques for France, who scored five times.
The result meant France and Norway both progressed to the medal rounds, finishing with four points each at the top of a very competitive group, followed by Spain and Romania on two points each.
Intermediate Group
Zoe Sprengers continued her free-scoring campaign in Slovakia with six goals in a 32:30 win for her Netherlands side over Croatia in Intermediate Group 1.
Sprengers now has 51 goals to her name in total and clearly tops the competition scoring charts. Croatia were leading at half-time in a game which saw the teams awarded 10 seven-metre shots each with both scoring eight of them. Ana Malec, with eight goals for Croatia, was named best player for her side. Britt van der Baan received the award for her performance for Netherlands.
In the other game Montenegro beat Austria 25:22 (10:12) after being behind at the break too. Nikolina Knezevic (MNE) and Adriana Marksteiner (AUT) won the best player awards for their sides.
The results meant Netherlands ended the group top with six points, Montenegro finished in second with four, followed by Austria (two) and Croatia (zero).
In Intermediate Group 2, Sweden beat Serbia 20:15, who had a red card shown to Milijana Stosic for three two-minute suspensions. Jovana Jovovic (SRB) and Nina Dano, who scored 10 for Sweden, were named best players.
Host Slovakia made home fans very happy as they beat neighbours Czech Republic 21:18 (10:13) in yet another half-time comeback. Martina Popovcova scored eight for the host nation to win best player, while four goals from Julie Frankova got her the award for the Czechs.
Sweden ended the group top on six points with Slovakia (three) squeezing past Czech Republic (two) in second. Serbia finish bottom on a single point.
Follow the Women’s 17 EHF EURO
All games of the Women’s 17 EHF EURO will be live on ehfTV.
For all the match throw-off times click HERE.
For the official competition website click HERE.
TEXT: EHF / cor
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