Buducnost begin defending their title with Sävehof steamroll 

With the swagger of a champion, poised to have a tilt at a second successive title, Buducnost kicked off this season’s European campaign with an emphatic winning performance. Their approach against battling Sävehof sent a clear message across a very strong field, emphasizsng that the Montenegrin giants are in no mood to relinquish their throne.  

GROUP D:
Buducnost (MNE) vs IK Savehof (SWE) 33:20 (17:8)

As one might have expected, this particular David versus Goliath clash produced a lot of one-way traffic, as Buducnost schooled their opponent and showed why they are the early favourites to retain the trophy.

An initial 5:2 advantage soared to a whopping 13:4 lead in the 20th minute, as the home team’s usual suspects poured in the goals from all angles, namely Majda Mehmedovic and Cristina Neagu. With the team’s backbone intact, after Marta Zderic seamlessly replaced the iconic Clara Woltering between the posts, Buducnost simply hit the ground running and dictated the pace relentlessly from start to finish.

Although Buducnost demonstrated a dominating role in attack, Zderic sees a necessary focus on defence for their next game. "I am happy that we were successful in claiming the points from today's match. It was not all that we agreed to before the game, but we achieved victory with high margin. It was great that we could start the group match phase with a home win against Sävehof. I am sure we will continue to raise our performance as the season progresses and it is evident that we need to increase our aggressiveness on defence."

To their credit, Savehof worked hard to keep the score respectable and stopped the attack, albeit briefly, late in the first half and early in the second.

With right back Katarina Bulatovic, pivot Dragana Cvijic and winger Radmila Petrovic all in fine form, Buducnost were able to keep their flowing attack at full throttle, while their physical superiority unleashed a tough defence at the other end of the court. Cvijic and Neagu had four goals each at halftime, Mehmedovic added three, while Petrovic, Bulatovic and Milena Raicevic chipped in with two apiece in the opening 30 minutes.

The early stages of the second half produced a some-what different script, as the seemingly battered Savehof hit back with a 6:3 run, slashing the overall deficit to 20:14 with 20 minutes remaining in the match. However, that was to be their last roar, as Buducnost switched into high gear again, scoring three goals without reply to avoid any possibility of a dramatic climax in their Moraca Hall.

An unstoppable 9:1 streak by the home side, with the depth of their impressive roster everywhere to be seen, depicted the team's high-class and opened the floodgates that swept the visitors aside. The mercurial Mehmedovic led a production belt of 10 Buducnost scorers with six goals, underlining what will be a mountain to climb for any opposition this season.

Henrik Signell, the head coach of IK Sävehof will take away some key points from this match up, as he looks to reach the calibre of Buducnost in the future. "We are a much younger team and we do not have the same quality that Buducnost has, which is several levels above us. It takes time for our team to reach higher level and it can not be done within a few months, but only through hard work over a long period of time. Buducnost is one of the best teams in Europe and even though we lost a couple of our standard players, we can say that we learned a lot from this defeat."