The reigning EHF Champions League Women holders played some impressive handball, especially in defence, to ensure they start the season with two wins in their first two matches, after dominating Krim Mercator Ljubljana, 27:21.
The Slovenian side have now lost the first two matches of the season and find themselves in a tough spot, needing to bounce back quickly if they want to match last season's quarter-final place.
GROUP A
Krim Mercator Ljubljana (SLO) vs Vipers Kristiansand (NOR) 21:27 (11:13)
- the turning point of the game was a 6:1 run for Vipers between the 18th and the 24th minutes, fuelled by two goals each from backs Jamina Roberts and Markéta Jerábková
- fresh from scoring eight goals in the first match of the season, centre back Daria Dmitrieva added another eight goals against Vipers, six of which came in the first half
- Vipers left back Jerábková, added another eight goals to her tally this season, jumping to second place in the leading scorer standings, with 16 goals, tied with Dmitrieva and Esbjerg's Nora Mørk
- the champion of the past two seasons, Vipers have now started a season in the EHF Champions League for the first time in history with two consecutive wins
- for the second season in a row and for only the second time in history, Krim Mercator Ljubljana began their Champions League campaign with two losses in a row
New season, same Vipers
It was a busy summer on the transfer market for Vipers Kristiansand, even hectic at times, but the Norwegian side picked up exactly where they left off last season, to start the new campaign with a bang. First, they took a strong 31:24 win against Brest Bretagne Handball, and then doubled down with another good outing against Krim Mercator Ljubljana.
The recipe was similar: goalkeeper Katrine Lunde saved 13 shots for a 39% saving efficiency, while reigning EHF FINAL4 MVP, left back Markéta Jerábková, added another eight goals, to lift Vipers to a 27:21 win.
After scoring only three goals in the game, Krim's right wing, Jovanka Radicevic, will need to wait to hit the 1,000-goal milestone in the EHF Champions League Women, needing only 10 goals to become only the second player to reach quadruple figures.
</ p>
This was a tough match. We knew we would be facing a good team as we were impressed after the great first half that Krim played in Bucuresti. I am happy to have these two points. My girl fought very well, Kathrine did a good job in goal. We are very happy about these two points because in this group I think all seven teams can take points off each other.
