11 more teams celebrate as EHF European Cup Women round 2 concludes

• HB Sint Truiden advance to round 3 with an impressive 27:22 win in their second leg against Athiniakos HC in Greece; the Belgian side won the first leg last week 25:24; the Greek hosts had a dream start, leading by four goals after eight minutes and 13:10 at half-time; in the middle of the second half, Sint Truiden turned the match around with a 6:0 run and kept adding goals after that

• HC DAC Dunajská Streda and Jomi PDO Salerno drew their first leg in Italy last week (25:25); on Saturday, the sides met in Slovakia for the reverse fixture, which was decided by the number of turnovers — four compared to 13; Dunajská Streda turned the visitors’ turnovers into goals and enjoyed a comfortable lead after the first 10 minutes and until the end, winning 32:25 and advancing to the next round; Beatrix Élö and Alexandra Ramona Severin were the top scorers with nine goals each for their sides; goalkeeper Kitty Mistina added 11 saves at 34.38 per cent efficiency for the Slovaks

• HC Galychanka and RK Ruma defended their comfortable advantages from the first leg, beating Zalgiris Kaunas (64:54 on aggregate) and ZRK Velenje (65:56 on aggregate), respectively; Svitlana Havrsysh scored 18 goals for Galychanka; Ruma’s goalkeeper Ninoslava Cvejic saved four from four penalty shots in the first leg and added one more (from three) in the reverse fixture

• Zwartwoud Kwiek and Maccabi Haarazim Ramat Gan celebrated two wins to advance to round 3; Kwiek beat OŽRK Krajina Cazin 72:51 on aggregate (39:28 and 33:23) with Paris Scholten scoring 10 goals in the first leg and Lizz Olde Bolhaar netting 11 times in the second leg; Maccabi defeated ADAA São Pedro do Sul 52:44 on aggregate after two matches (28:22 and 24:22) as Hanna Storozhuk scored 10 goals in each match

• KHF Ferizaj and KHF Shqiponja could not profit from a home-court advantage in their double-headers this weekend against VIF (Faroe Islands) and Bnot-Herzliya H.C (Israel), losing 40:62 and 51:69, respectively, on aggregate; none of the four teams from Kosovo advanced, as KHF Samadrexha and KHF Istogu were eliminated in their home double-headers last weekend

• Clube Jovem Almeida Garrett and Kur celebrated the most dominant victories on aggregate this weekend, beating Youth Union of Athienou (68:31) and APOEL KN. Ag. Trimithias (79:31), respectively; both sides conceded fewer than 20 goals in each match; Kur’s Esma Muratovic stood out with 19 goals across both matches

Dutch delight after tough double-header

JuRo Unirek VZV hosted their double-header against Yellow Winterthur this weekend. The Dutch side won the first leg on Friday evening, beating their Swiss opponents 34:30 in a roller-coaster match. The hosts took an early 6:1 lead after seven minutes, only to trail at half-time (17:18). A 6:0 run from minutes 34 to 43 turned the match around, and Winterthur could only manage the gap at four goals. In the second leg on Sunday, Winterthur trailed for most of the match. However, they showed fighting spirit and came back to take a 31:30 win with an impressive 5:0 run to close the match in the last four minutes. Yet, this comeback was too little, too late, as the Dutch advanced by 64:61 on aggregate.

Photos © KHF Ferizaj (main), ŽRK Velenje / Jurij Vodusek (in-text)