07 December 2023

Defeat in the final!

The women’s water polo team added another important distinction in the club history. Although it was defeated by Dunaujvaros 13-11 but it is amazing that three different sections played in three European finals in three days. The ‘’Reds’’ would have won the LEN Trophy but some wrong arbitration decisions in the last two minutes influenced the final result as they whistled an offensive foul rather than a penalty for Olympiacos. Also, the phase of Eggens is controversial with the goal not counting.

Key action:

It was an action-packed game from the beginning, the opening period produced four goals apiece, then the Hungarians took the driving seat and led 5-7 at half-time. The scoring-machine geared up once again in the third, the Hungarians extended the gap to three in the middle at 6-9 but the Greeks came up with their best spell and equalised by scoring from three consecutive possessions.

However, Dunaujvaros reacted well after a time-out and with another blast from the distance by Krisztina Garda (she netted four in the afternoon) they grabbed back the lead before the last period. And they never gave it away, though Olympiacos also fought hard but Greta Gurisatti’s two great action goals decided the outcome.

Match data:

The quarters: 4-4, 1-3, 4-3, 2-3

Goals:

1st quarter: 1-0 Asimaki, 1-1 Garda, 1-2 Menczinger, 2-2 Eggens, 2-3 Ziegler, 3-3 Plevritou, 4-3 Avramidou, 4-4 Mchunu

2nd quarter: 4-5 Garda, 4-6 Mchunu, 5-6 Avramidou, 5-7 Szilagyi,

3rd quarter: 5-8 Szilagyi, 6-8 Avramidou, 6-9 Szylagyi, 7-9 Eggens, 8-9 Avramidou, 9-9 Emmolo, 9-10 Garda.

4th quarter: 10-10 Eggens 10-11 Garda, 10-12 Gurissati, 11-12 Emmolo, 11-13 Gurissati

Squads:

Olympiacos (Teocharis Pavlides): Diamantopoulou, El. Plevritou 1, Eggens 3, Eleftheriadou, Manolioudaki, Avramidou 4, Asimaki 1, M. Plevritou, Emmolo 2, B. Plevritou, Tsoukala, Myriokefalitaki, Stamatopoulou

Dunajvaros: Kiss, Szilagyi 3, Valyi 1, Gurissati 2, Horvath, Menczinger, Luka, Garda 4, Ziegler, Brezovszki, Emchunu 2

Quotes:

Pavlidis stated: "Playing in the final every year is a great success because it proves stability at a high level. Every coach has mentioned that this year is very difficult as all the teams are competitive. The today final could be the one of Euroleague. As far as the game is concerned, we weren’t so good on the defense as we conceded 13 goals. The rhythm helped the other opponent with lots of goals and attacks. We tried to find our balance and we achieved to equalize. I would like to refer to the teams’ mistakes rather than the referees’ ones. At the end, Daujvaros won fairly as we are not used to playing well in a high score. The players did their best and this year we have some problems on the defense, we conceded many goals which cost us.’’

The captain, Filio Manolioudaki, said:

"The positive thing of our presence here is that our team is consistent, since we have been playing in three F4 of Euroleague and 2 ones of Len Trophy in the last 5 years. Surely we are sad. In the defensive part of the game we made a few mistakes that cost us because we knew that our opponents would be favored enough if the score was high. Unfortunately, we aren’t very effective on the defense this year as we conceded 10-11 goals in each crucial match. Now, we have to concentrate on the Greek Championship which is our main goal. Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you on behalf of the team to our fans came in Mataro and continue to support us wherever we play.’’