Romania goalkeeper Denisa Dedu shone in spectacular fashion, denying Russia a total of 22 shots and paving the way to a rare 22:17 win for her side in Group D against the 2016 Olympic champions. The victory came on the 20th anniversary to the very date of what was until Wednesday the one and only Romanian win in head-to-head games against the reigning Olympic champions at an EHF EURO, swe2016.ehf-euro.com informs.
“It was really hard match because we lost to Norway. We talked to each other and we had more motivation, we were more ambitious and we wanted this win so much,” said Romania line player Oana Manea. “It was the fighting spirit we had, we were a group, we played as a team and our wish was to win this game.”
Russia, who could have clinched a main round berth with a victory, will now hope to avoid a defeat in their last preliminary round game against Norway, while Romania take on Croatia on Friday.
With a more than impressive 56 per cent save rate Dedu was announced the best player of the match, while Cristina Neagu and Eliza Buceschi led Romania in attack with seven goals each.
Liudmila Postnova topped the Russian scorer list with four goals, while Victoria Kalinina, who turns 28 on Thursday, held Russia in the game with several important saves in the second half and a notable 46 per cent rate of her own.
“Our goalkeeper was good in the first half, but we did not help her in the second part. We could not find the way how to beat their goalkeeper and lost our nerves,” said Russia’s Liudmila Postnova.
Although Romania were in the lead through the entire match, Evgeny Trefilov’s team were twice able to come back from a deficit. Three minutes after the break they climbed back from a four-goal hole and eight minutes before the final buzzer Anna Sen levelled at 17:17.
However, that was the last Russian goal of the game, while both Neagu and Buceschi chipped in two late goals.
Dedu was immediately an insurmountable obstacle for the Russian attack, as she garnered 11 saves with the support of the swiftly-moving defence. It was mainly due to her outstanding performance that Russia experienced arguably the worst start of their EHF EURO history after being limited to only two goals in the opening 16 minutes.
Within the first minute alone Dedu recorded first two saves and propelled her team to a 7:3 lead with an unbelievable 80 per cent saving efficiency, with eight saves from 10 shots, by the time the first quarter of the game was over.
In 10 direct encounters between the two rivals, Russia still clearly prevail with seven wins and one draw.
Teams:
Romania: Denisa Dedu (22 saves) — Aneta Udriștioiu (1 goal), Gabriella Szucs, Melinda Geiger (2), Crina Pintea (2), Eliza Buceschi (7), Cristina Neagu (7), Ana Maria Iuganu (2), Cristina Zamfir, Oana Manea (1), Mădălina Zamfirescu, Laura Chiper. Coach: Ambros Martin.
Russia: Victoria Kalinina (17 saves), Elena Utkina — Liudmila Postnova (4), Daria Dmitrieva (3), Ana Sen (2), Ana Viahireva (3), Marina Sudakova, Vladlena Bobrovnikova (1), Daria Samohina (2), Ksenia Makeeva, Victoria Jilinskaite, Karina Sabirova, Kristina Kojokar (1), Elizaveta Malashenko, Olga Gorshenina (1), Antonina Skorobogatcenko. Coach: Evghenyi Trefilov.
In the last match of Group D, Romania vs. Croatia on Friday, 19.30h Bucharest time.