THW Kiel - Rhein-Neckar Löwen 37:23! Nikola and his teammates humiliated their opponent in the first leg of the semifinal of the competition. In the virtue of what THW showed today, it is hard to believe that they will not make it into the final.
Löwen couldn’t count today on Tkaczyk, Schelmenko und Harbok, all three injured, while the hosts had to play from the same reason without Palicka and Kim Andersson. The game was balanced only in the first 11 minutes (5:4), when the goalkeeper Henning Fritz, a former "Zebra", kept his team into the match with his great saves. In the end, together with Jurasik, Fritz (23 saves) was the only "Lion" who performed at his best.
Nikola (6 goals and 4 assists) came on after 13 minutes, scored at his first action and brought more strength to a defence who was already very solide. He played until the end and did it with success of all three position in the back-court! Certainly, Titi Omeyer was once more incredible and due to him and his defence, Kiel made themselves the life easy, scoring a lot on fastbreak.
First, they extended their lead to 4 goals (9:5/14.), the rival came closer to two (9:7/15.) and after it on the field there was just one team: THW Kiel. In the second part of the first half, the "Kieler" scored 9 goals in a row for 18:7 (27.), while the "Löwen" managed to beat Omeyer only one time! The difference at the end of the first half was similar to a KO in boxing: 20:8!
In the second half, the home squad relaxed a bit and missed some goals and commited technical fouls, facts which helped the visitors to reduce the margin to 8 goals. (23:15/40., 26:18/45.). But the boys coached by Alfred Gislason belonged the last words. They scored four times in the last 5 minutes, while Jurasik and his colleagues did it only once.
Statistics
THW Kiel - Rhein-Neckar Löwen 37:23 (20:8)
THW Kiel: Omeyer (1.-60., 22/2 saves), Martini (didn’t play); Lund, Wessig (didn’t play), Lundström (3), Kavticnik (6/1), Anic (didn’t play), Lövgren, Ahlm (2), Zeitz (3), Karabatic (6), Klein (5), Jicha (12/3); Coach: Gislason
Rhein-Neckar Löwen: Szmal (on for a 7 meter shot, one save), Fritz (1.-60., 18 saves); Gensheimer (2), Roggisch, Bielecki, Schwarzer (1), Filip (4), Jurasik (8/1), Klimowets (1), Fäth (2) Sigurdsson (5), Groetzki, Richardson; Coach: Schwenke
Statistics: www.thw-provinzial.de
In the other semifinal: HSV Hamburg - Ciudad Real 29:30 (13:12)
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