Team Esbjerg put on a show against Storhamar Handball Elite in round 3 of the EHF Champions League Women 2022/23. From the first minute, they were ruthless, finding every gap in Storhamar's defence and scoring easy goals from fast breaks.
Storhamar, after a record 24-goal win over HC Lokomotiva Zagreb, could not keep up with last season's EHF FINAL4 participants. After three rounds, Esbjerg have made the same start to the season as last year, when they finished at the top of group A after 14 rounds.
GROUP B
Team Esbjerg (DEN) vs Storhamar Handball Elite (NOR) 35:25 (21:10)
- Esbjerg made a flying start as they took an early 4:0 lead. After a six-minute wait, Maja Jakobsen finally found the way through the opponents' defence to open Storhamar's account
- as the gap between the two teams widened with each minute, Rikke Poulsen's nine saves at a 48 per cent save efficiency helped Esbjerg a lot
- Storhamar had a problem with their shot efficiency, as they were unable to go above 50 per cent, while Esbjerg kept their efficiency above 80 per cent until the last five minutes. Esbjerg finished with a 67 per cent shot efficiency
- right back Maja Jakobsen (nine goals) achieved her highest total in a match this season to finish as Storhamar's top scorer.
- 11 out of Esbjerg's 12 court players scored, and both goalkeepers had their share of saves
Team effort helps Esbjerg reach a milestone
Round 3 of the EHF Champions League Women group phase was Esbjerg's 61st match in the top-tier competition. In front of their fans, Esbjerg played at their top level throughout the match. Easy goals, strong defence and amazing saves resulted in the Danish side claiming their 30th victory in six seasons in the competition.
A team effort enabled Esbjerg to reach the milestone, as head coach Jesper Jensen saw every player leave their mark on the court in a 35:25 win. With eight goals from nine shots, Henny Ella Reistad led the team – while 10 other players all scored at least twice.
We are very satisfied with today's result. We knew that Storhamar was going to challenge us with a lot of pace, so we had to be ready from the start, and I am very impressed that the players were ready. Luckily for us it went our way from the beginning.
It was a tough match today. I think we got better in the second half, and I am happy with that because our first half was not that good. We will learn and take this lesson with us.
