Serbia were the only team from the lower divisions to emerge victorious in Thursday’s crossovers, as they beat Türkiye to advance to the quarter-finals of the women’s U18 European Water Polo Championships in Malta. Netherlands edged past Germany, while Israel ended Great Britain’s impressive run, and Croatia outclassed Slovakia.
Crossovers: Serbia sink Türkiye
Joyful screams filled the air as the buzzer sounded at the end of the first crossover match between Serbia and Türkiye. The Serbs celebrated knocking their top division rivals out and they did it in style, coming up with a great performance in the second half.
Jovana Radonjic’s fast double set the tone, just 64 seconds into the match, and midway through the first period the Serbs were already 0-4 up and led 1-5 after eight minutes.
However, the Türks came back strong and fired in three unanswered goals in 80 seconds. Jana Jankovic stepped up and replied twice, but the Türks also found a way to score more and trailed only 6-7 at half-time.
Hanzada Dabbag buried an extra from the first possession in the third and after a long period of fine defending, Dabbag equalised again, from a penalty, but then Jana Pejic hit a nice one from action.
Despite giving away their four-goal lead earlier, the Serbs didn’t panic, with Radonjic converting their next extra, and in the next counter the excluded Türkish player went on playing, and Radonjic took advantage of the ‘gift’ penalty.
Soon, the Serbian Cuk siblings started to really shine, with Masa finishing off a counter and, as the Türks started falling apart, Elena added two more from action to make it 8-13.
This 0-5 rush did the damage, and even though Türkiye managed to pull two back, a couple of quick Serbian hits ended the contest at 10-15, with 4:12 on the clock.
The Türks put together a late surge, scoring three in a row, but at 13-15 and with only 1:12 remaining, it was far too late. Plus, the Serbs didn’t want to just burn their possession time, as Danica Balac’s fierce skip shot sealed the team’s big win which sent them through to the quarter-finals.
Crossovers: Netherlands survive some scares before downing Germany
The next crossover match may have promised a lop-sided battle, but it was far from that. Credit goes to the Germans, who stunned the Netherlands with a great first period when they built a 1-3 lead.
Goalkeeper Muriel Tannenhauer also posted several great saves, as the Dutch needed more than six minutes to find a way past her and onto the scoreboard.
The first crucial moment came 36 seconds into the second period, when Mara Dzaja’s penalty was saved by Hannah Trijsburg and Klara Heerink sent the ball home at the other end just 19 seconds later.
So, instead of 1-4, it was 2-3, and after some swimming and battling, Heerink hit another one from the perimeter to level it up. A late exchange of goals settled the half-time score at 4-4, then the Dutch hit two in a minute.
Dzaja pulled one back quickly from the centre, but Marjolein De Gier freed herself for a great hit from the centre. And with some luck, she completed her hat-trick as the ball fell to her hand in a dying extra to give her team an 8-5 lead.
A time-out helped the Germans to regain some ground, as they immediately netted a six on four, and with the Dutch attack continuing to stall, they managed to climb back to 9-8, so the final quarters promised more excitement.
And it began with a penalty save, this time from Tannenhauer, but she couldn’t do much when De Gier finished off a counter for 10-8.
Nele Politze pulled one back with a great blast from the distance, and this was repeated a bit later – again a counter, followed by a fine shot for 11-10.
What came next altered the storyline, as another outside shot, by Frisch, was good enough for an equaliser.
Both sides had an extra, but couldn’t convert either, so it was still 11-11 when a nice and smart play set up Kimber van der Linde in the centre, who retook the lead for the Netherlands with 2:48 on the clock.
It turned out to be the winner, as the Germans were unable to breach the Dutch defence again, while their rivals didn’t risk anything and ran the clock down to advance to the quarters.
Crossovers: Brits couldn’t cope with Israel’s composed game
Another fierce contest was in sight when Israel clashed with Great Britain. The Brits were clearly a cut above the rest in the lower division matches, as their huge wins proved they were ready to take on the sides in the elite category, at least those outside the Big Five’s territory.
However, it took Great Britain 7:15 minutes to score their first from a counter, after a steal – but by then the Israelis were 3-0 up thanks to some fine plays and precise shots.
This was now a real test for the Brits, to stay composed after falling behind, as this was something they hadn’t experienced in the previous days when they blew away their rivals with 10+ goals wins.
Shutting down a late six on five gave them a small boost, but Israel’s defence was also up to the task and they firmly guarded Amelie Perkins, which prevented the British scoring machine from delivering her usual chunk of goals.
A fine centre-action from Mika Koren reset the three-goal gap, then, after both sides missed six on fives, captain Lily Ross’ fierce shot from the perimeter pulled one back for the Brits.
Perkins tried to step up, but she was still being marked well, even in woman-downs, and Israel’s Amit Faibish scored just before the buzzer at the end of their next possession, and Yuval Raz added another 29 seconds later, from a six on five, to make it 6-2.
Ross also buried a woman-up to give some hope to the Brits, but they still trailed by three at half-time.
Perkins started producing goals in the third, three in a row, but the Israelis kept the distance, as they also managed to create chances and made the most of them. Still, the Brits managed to shave off one more towards the end, as Ross hit her third from extra for 9-7.
The early minutes of the fourth decided the game, with the Brits failing to feed Perkins, who was creating some decent space in front of goal, but the ball never arrived, and that was starting to become a pattern.
When Perkins finally did get the ball, in the centre, a turnover foul was called to rule out her goal, and soon Koren hit her fourth. Einav Amor then made it 11-7 with a blistering shot and with 5:40 to go, Israel seemed to have it.
The Brits launched a desperate finish, managing to pull two back through counters with 3:05 to go, but Teva Dorfman hit one from the perimeter from their next possession for 12-9, closing the doors on the Brits.
Koren added another one to seal Israel’s win and a place in the quarters – while the Brits had to deal with the fact they might not have been ready for the real breakthrough.
Crossovers: Croatia sweep Slovakia aside in style
The last tie produced the only lop-sided clash in the crossovers. Slovakia were only able to keep up with Croatia for six minutes, but the favourites added two goals in the last minute to lead 5-2 after eight minutes.
There was little doubt the Croats would win with ease, but their rivals did at least hold them up for a while, conceding only one more goal in the first four minutes of the second quarter – but then the Croats blew them away before the middle break.
Three action goals inside the last two minutes expanded the gap significantly, as Croatia led 10-3 and never looked back.
Indeed, they looked forward, but they didn’t appear to push too hard, as they will probably have wanted to conserve some energy for the quarter-finals where the Hungarians await.
Croatia still continued adding goals, though, as the Slovaks were getting worn out more and more. They stopped at 19 and will return on Thursday to play another match under the lights.
For the lower placements
In the first encounter of the day, Ireland and Bulgaria clashed to see who would claim their first win in Malta. The Irish dominated from the beginning, storming into a 4-0 lead and they never looked back.
During the last seconds, they even went for a seven on six after a time-out and, with some luck, their goalie Lana Awaja also managed to score.
The next games, for the 13-16th places, brought much tighter contests. The first, between Czechia and Ukraine, was only decided in a shootout.
It was a great match, where the Czechs jumped to a 4-0 lead, only to see the Ukrainians come back to 6-6 deep into the second. Still, Jolana Chodlova’s two great action goals put the Czechs ahead once more before half-time.
After the action-packed second period, with five goals apiece, the goals dried up in the third. The Czechs were able to keep their one-goal advantage, thanks mainly to their goalie Viktorie Vlaskova, who stopped a penalty 18 seconds before the last break.
The fourth quarter offered tremendous excitement. The Czechs took a two-goal lead twice, as Lucie Bakalova was on fire, hitting the last three goals for her team, and with another fierce shot they went 14-12 up with only 1:18 remaining.
However, a goal from an extra, then a risky counter, ending with a penalty, brought the Ukrainians back to even with 0:09 on the clock.
The goalies then ruled the shootout, stopping half of the shots, and with Vlaskova producing three more saves, it was the Czechs who were celebrating at the end.
Malta bounced back from their bitter defeat against the Germans from the previous evening and even though the Romanians put up a good fight, the hosts prevailed at the end.
Their rivals climbed back from three goals down in the third, but a last-gasp action goal from Kaylen Cutajar for 7-9 lifted the Maltese players’ spirits before the last break.
The Romanians missed a crucial extra early in the fourth, while the home side hit two in a span of 29 seconds for 7-11 which put a virtual end to the contest.
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Women’s U18 Europeans, Malta
Results, Day 5
Thursday 4 September
Crossovers
Türkiye v Serbia 13-16
Netherlands v Germany 12-11
Israel v Great Britain 13-9
Croatia v Slovakia 19-5
Quarter-final fixtures for Day 6
Friday 5 September
(Local times shown)
16.30 Spain v Serbia
18.00 Greece v Netherlands
19.30 Italy v Israel
21.00 Hungary v Croatia
For places 13-16th
Romania v Malta 9-12
Czechia v Ukraine 14-14, pen: 3-2
For places 17-19th
Ireland v Bulgaria 15-8
Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics
