Away goals send Vac to next round

This weekend 11 more teams made sure they will be taking part in the draw for Round 3 of the Women’s EHF Cup 2017/18.

They will find out who their next opponents are on Tuesday (24 October) 11:00 hrs at the EHF Office in Vienna.

Impressive second leg

Thanks to an impressive second leg against Buxtehuder SV, Vaci NKSE will be among the teams in the bowl for that draw.

Seven goals after the first leg (33:26) in Germany, Vac led 17:14 lead at half time and finally clinched a 29:22 won, which saw them proceed to the next round on away goals.

“The luckier team won today,” Buxtehuder SV coach Dirk Leun said. “We missed 34 shots, and I suppose this says just about everything.”

E. S. Besancon Feminin also recovered from an opening-leg defeat, though the French side were only one goal down (27:26) after their visit to Silkeborg-Voel KFUM in Denmark.

With the match still very much in the balance at half-time, the 3000 spectators in the Palais des Sports Besancon saw the home team take an early four-goal lead after the break.

They did not look back from that point and entered the next round with a 28:23 win.

Not far from being sent out

Byasen Handball Elite also advanced to the last qualification round before the group phase. But the Norwegian side were not far from being sent out despite a 10-goal lead from the first meeting with H. C. Dunea Braila from Romania.

Having won the first match 28:18, Byasen lost the second leg in Romania 28:20 and only proceeded on a two-goal margin.

Like in the first match, centre back Diana Cristina Axinte scored 10 goals for Braila.

DKKA Dunaujvaros, winners of the Women’s EHF Cup 2015/16, are still in with a chance of repeating that feat.

Having won 31:24 at home against C. S. M. Roman last weekend, the Hungarian team could afford their 27:25 defeat in Romania, where right wing Ana Maria Simion netted 10 times for the hosts.

Zvezda Zvenigorod have joined fellow Russian teams Astrakhanochka, Kuban and Handball Club Lada into Round 3, but only after a nail-biting finish to their double-header at home against LC Brühl Handball.

Zvezda won the first leg Saturday 29:25, but the return match Sunday in the Sport Hall Zvezda was dominated by the Swiss visitors.

Already in the first half, Brühl were leading by nine goals. And in the second half, they even got 11 goals ahead before Zvezda started to catch up.

Through a penalty on the buzzer, Zvezda reduced the defeat to 28:24, and as the first match was their technical away game, Zvezda proceeded by scoring just one away goal more than their opponents.

There was also a thriller in Debrecen, where Metraco Zaglebie Lubin were carrying a 25:23 advantage into their return match against DVSC-TVP.

The Hungarian home team were ahead all the time, including a four- goal lead at half-time, but the Polish visitors kept coming back and held the game open for the first 50 minutes.

Only in the last minutes, Debrecen carved out their 26:20 win, which was obviously more than enough for their Round 3 ticket.