Handball, European Championship: Romania defeated by Norway 21-23

The women’s national team of Romania was defeated Monday evening by Norway 23-21 (13-11) in Helsinborg, Sweden, in the first match counting for Group D of the European Championship.

Norway, reigning European and world champions, won the match following a series of mistakes made by the Romanian players, who could not capitalise on the favourable opportunities.

The match was already the sixth competitive duel of the two rivals within less than a year, with Romania winning only the EHF EURO qualifier in Cluj last March (25:20). The defending champions survived a good Romanian start to the game and never allowed their opponents to increase the lead to more than one goal, swe2016.ehf-euro.com reports. After Eliza Buceschi had scored for 7:6, Romania failed to exploit a Norwegian mistake and instead had to witness a 3:0 run of their opponents in less than three minutes.

When Gabriella Szucs served a two-minute suspension, Norway extended their lead to four goals at 13:9 when Camilla Herrem hit the empty goal deep from her own half in the 25th minute.

However, it all looked a bit better for Romania at the break as the final two goals of the half were scored by Buceschi and Cristina Neagu, who eventually became Romania’s top scorer with six goals.

Both teams entered the second half with a change in goal as Silje Solberg took the place of Kari Aalvik Grimsbo, while Denisa Dedu appeared on the other end.

With the latter supporting her team with a couple of nice saves, Romania bounced back and were on edge of levelling the game 10 minutes into the second half.

But Nora Mork and Camilla Herrem continued their excellent first half performances and their goals at 16:14 in the 41st and 17:14 in the 43rd minute started another run of the Scandinavian team.

At the stage Romania committed several errors on both ends of the court, and with 13 minutes left to play and the score at 20:15 for Norway, Romania coach Ambros Martin tried to stop the imminent collapse with a timeout.

Although his players were unable to capitalise on two-minute suspensions for Norway’s Marit Malm Frafjord and Vilde Ingstad, they did regroup in the last ten minutes.

When Laura Chiper brought Romania back within two goals at 21:19, Norway Coach Thorir Hergeirsson used a timeout to prevent the game from swinging in Romania’s favour.

In a dramatic finish Dedu’s impressive double-save three minutes to go went in vain, as Stine Oftedal gave Norway a three-goal lead again (22:19) and denied them a real chance to turn the tide in the remaining moments of the game.

“I think little mistakes made the difference today,” said Romania right back Melinda Geiger. “It’s always like that. We run after them and it’s not good for us. We try to play good in defence, we try to play in the attack, but something is always missing.”

Romania’s team coach Martin Ambros: We had real problems in attack

The Romanian team’s coach Martin Ambros said after the match: “We’ve had good and bad moments, in the second half we defended well. Unfortunately the attack was out of solutions, we’ve tried all kinds of changes to no avail. Let’s not forget the team we’ve played against, Olympic Games medallist, world champions, a team knowing to handle the key moments. We’ve manage to play relatively well, although at times we were caught unprepared. We didn’t have much time to train together, we are trying to make the changes as we go, I am satisfied with the way the girls have fought. I’ll try not to make them think at this defeat anymore, the next match against Russia is very important. The most important issue is to qualify to the next stage, to prove our potential. I believe in the Romanian team.”

Teams:

Romania: Paula Ungureanu, Denisa Dedu (goalkeepers)— Aneta Udriștioiu, Gabriella Szucs, Melinda Geiger (2 goals), Crina Pintea, Eliza Buceschi (4), Cristina Neagu (6), Cristina Florică, Cristina Laslo, Ana Maria Iuganu (2), Cristina Zamfir (2), Oana Manea, Mădălina Zamfirescu, Florina Chintoan, Laura Chiper (5). Coach: Martin Ambros.

Norway: Kari Aalvik Grimbo, Silje Solberg (goalkeepers) — Veronica Kristiansen (5), Vilde Ingstad, Nora Mork (7), Marit Malm Frafjord (1), Silje Waade, Amanda Kurtovic (1), Camilla Herrem (5), Marta Tomac (1). Coach: Thorir Hergeirsson.

Referees: Joanna Brehmer și Agnieszka Skowronek (Poland).

In the other match in Group D: Russia 32 Croatia 26.

The next matches are to be played on Wednesday: Romania vs. Russia (19.30h – Bucharest time) and Croatia vs. Norway (21.45h). The first three teams qualify to the main groups.