Korfball Europa Cup Day 3
English korfball champions Mitcham won the Europa Cup bronze
medal with an 11-8 win over German champions Adler Rauxel.
This is the first time in 4 occasions in the history of the
event that Mitcham has got the better of Adler in a bronze
medal match in a rivalry going back over 20 years, and a great
improvement for Mitcham after finishing 8th in last year’s
event.
DOS'46 (NED) retained the Europa Cup at the expense of Belgian
rivals Boeckenberg with an emphatic 19-12 victory.
Despite their defeat this was the highest ever placing for
the Belgian team whilst DOS'46 still have not lost a final
in this event.
7/8 Place match
After their disappointment at letting the Germans off the
hook the evening before, Prievidza were obviously affected
by the experience and today the Hungarians from Szentendre
gained revenge for their defeat in the qualification event.
The game was sewn up in the opening 15 minutes where Szentendre
opened out a 9-1 lead. By half time the score had progressed
to 13-5. The second half was a little more even but the final
score was 21-11 in the Hungarian’s favour.
5/6 Place match
Hosts NC Benfica took on Ceske Budejovice (CZE) for the 5th
place. After two early exchanges of goals the Portuguese took
control with 5 unanswered goals in succession. Things were
a little more even after that but half time was reached with
Benfica leading 12-7. Benfica built on this lead in the opening
5 minutes of the second half before the game settled down
again but the winner by then had become obvious. NC Benfica
claimed 5th place with a 21-14 victory.
Bronze medal match
Adler started the stronger taking an early two goal lead
and missing a penalty all in the opening 5 minutes. Mitcham
did not score until the 10th minute and, until 5 minutes before
the end of the half were chasing the game. After 27 minutes
they took the lead for the first time but were pegged back
before half time to go in level at 6-6. After an exchange
of goals on 36 minutes (the last goal Adler were to score
until the final second) Mitcham took control, although with
just a single goal lead they were penalised 4 times midway
through the half for time wasting. (Incidentally had we be
using a shot clock this would not have happened as they were
penalised well before 25 seconds had elapsed). It took until
7 minutes from the end (and 1 time-out for each team) before
Mitcham scored the crucial goal that gave them a two goal
cushion. They extended their lead to 4 goals but the Germans
scored a consolation goal at the end with the final time signal
going just as the ball was dropping to the floor after going
in. Final score 11-8.
The Final
Both teams were very tense at the start and, aided by strong
defence and one missed penalty, it was ten minutes before
the first goal. Scoring was difficult for both teams as both
defences were playing well and forcing errors from their opponents.
However, by midway through the half the Dutch had twice opened
a three goal lead but the Belgians hit back to level the scores
to go in at half time level at 5-5. The second half, however,
was a different story. Dos’46 suddenly found their scoring
touch and the game was virtually over in the first ten minutes
of the half as they scored six times with Boeckenberg only
replying once from the penalty spot. The long and medium distance
shooting was deadly throughout the half. Boeckenberg reduced
the deficit a little by scoring five in the last 5 minutes
but the Dutch retained the trophy with a 19-12 victory.
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