Norwegian club Sola HK recorded their second win in the EHF European League Women group A after they beat Lokomotiva Zagreb 25:18.
Home team had a difficult time in the first half, especially in the attack, making mistakes and not taking advantage of great saves by Tonje Haug Lerstad, who was at 50 per cent efficiency. Nenad Sostaric’s team once again showed their fighting spirit. 13 players in total travelled to Stavanger, without current top scorer Josipa Mamic, keeping up with their opponents for 50 minutes.
GROUP A
Sola HK (NOR) vs Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) 25:18 (13:11)
- Sola had a lead throughout the first half, biggest one was by four goals (10:6), Lokomotiva could not find a solution for Tonje Haug Lerstad in Sola's goal
- Steffen Stormo Stegavik’s team could have had a much bigger advantage by the half-time, however errors and missed shots left his team at 42 per cent attack efficiency
- Andrea Simara and Lena Ivancok helped Lokomotiva reduce the gap to two by the end of the first half
- home team performed better in the second half, Live Rushfeldt Deila’s second goal ten minutes before the end brought Sola the lead which was decisive for the win
- Kristina Sirum Novak was Sola’s top scorer with seven goals
Haug Lerstad’s day
Sola were favourites but they were struggling in the attack and the only one keeping them in the game was Tonje Haug Lerstad. 25-year old goalkeeper turned to be a nightmare for Lokomotiva with ten saves already in the first 30 minutes. She added additional three in second half in the decisive time of the match when Sola needed to increase their lead. Good defence was a base for their fast breaks in the second half, mainly by Frøydisin Seierstad Wiik and Kristina Sirum Novak, which brought Sola a new clear win in the group phase.
