A strong opening in Hala Legionów

PGE VIVE Kielce ended their first match of the 2019/20 Champions League 7 goals ahead of HC Motor Zaporozhye, with the score at 33:26 at Hala Legionów. The hosts very quickly built up a high advantage, leading the game at 12:3 after several minutes. In the second half they lost a lot of their efficiency, but still beat the champions of Ukraine confidently and highly, adding another two to the point they won a week earlier in Kiel. Absentees from the meeting included Krzysztof Lijewski, Branko Vujović, Mateusz Jachlewski, Daniel Dujshebaev and Tomasz Gębala.

PGE VIVE Kielce – HC Motor Zaporozhye 33:26 (22:11)

We had to wait almost three minutes for the goal opening the result of Sunday's game. It was scored by Igor Soroka from a penalty. By that time his teammate, Zakhar Denysov, had already earned a two minute booking for a foul on Arciom Karalok, and our goalkeeper, Mateusz Kornecki, successfully intervened twice in the previous plays of the Ukrainian side. Only for a moment the guests could enjoy this minimal lead, because the throw festival of Arciom Karalok and Blaz Janc started after only a moment. Both players scored two goals each and the Kielce side was on the lead at 4:1 in the seventh minute.

The rivals had a hard time breaking through the Kielce boys’ zone, which started with  Blaz Janc way up, on no. 1. The aggressive, open defense of PGE VIVE Kielce caused big problems for the champions of Ukraine, which made them lose the ball or throw from difficult positions. The advantage of our team grew, after goals from Vlad Kulesh, Igor Karacic and Mariusz Jurkiewicz in the eleventh minute it was already 8:3, and the coach of the guests asked for time. It didn't help. Mateusz Kornecki showed off another great intervention, and our pivots, Romaric Guillo and Arciom Karalok added three goals to the team's account. The score on the board was 11:3, and after Alex Dujshebaev's hit — 12:3.

It was the Spaniards who seized the initiative in the goal marathon in the latter part of the first half. Alex was supported on the pivot by Julen Aginagalde, who easily collected the balls sent to him by his team mates while under pressure from the rivals. In the twenty-fifth minute of the match, Doruk Pehlivan scored his first goal in the Champions League. His goal was to give the Kielce team a 19:8 lead. The pace of the game slowed down a bit, the hosts flattened the defense, but the Ukrainians didn't start pursuing the result at all. In the first half Barys Pukhouski and co. only managed to move pass Mateusz Kornecki with a half of the total number of goals scored by the Kielce team, so after thirty minutes they were losing 11:22 at Hala Legionów.

Andreas Wolff, who started with a successful intervention, set himself up between the Kielce posts for the second part of the meeting. His field buddies continued their defense in a 6-0 formation. So the guests started to try to play seven against six, with the goalkeeper involved, which was punished by the Kielce team with throws at an empty goal — goals were scored this way by Blaz Janc, Mariusz Jurkiewicz and... Andi Wolff. PGE VIVE's advantage has increased to thirteen goals. The Ukrainian champions gave up this idea and kept coming back to it only while playing at an disadvantage.

The dominance of the Kielce side wouldn’t stop. Our players did not score goals so actively anymore, but rather defended the advantage gained in the first part of the game, keeping the score around the safe 10 goal lead. In the end they relaxed a little too much, allowing their rivals to close the gap and eventually beat Motor Zaporozhye 33:26. The first match of the Champions League in front of the home crowd can be considered a success. In group B of the tournament we can add another two points to the one gained in Kiel.

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This article was translated by FATIX. If you are looking for professional translation services, check them up at www.fatix.eu.