Czech Republic 14-8 Ukraine
The Czech Republic eased into the final of the LEN European Nations Trophy with a 14-8 victory over Ukraine, who will go on to play the third place play off tomorrow.
The unsurprising victory, their second of the tournament over the Ukranians, was kicked off early on by an impressive show of strength from Lucie Votavova.
Votavova would go on to score five goals in the game, taking her onto 19 overall. She was supported brilliantly, as always, by Veronika Bartunkova (4), Aneta Hendrychova (3) and Karolina Famerova (2).
Their opponents, looking visibly tired after four games in a row, kept up with them in the first quarter going into the break 3-2 down. Kseniya Kurvicheva equalised Votavova’s opener and Olga Shvedova scored for Ukraine.
The Czech’s powered away from Ukraine in the second quarter, though, as Bartunkova, Hendrychova and Famerova all finished the first half with two goals.
As ever in this tournament, the second half was more even but Kurvicheva’s sole resistance was never going to be enough as the Czech side were comfortable in seeing the match out.
Kurvicheva finished with four goals but only Olga Shvedova, the heroine of the quarter final, (2), Anastasiya Kotova and Anna Komchik helped her out in the scoring stakes.
After the game, Bartunkova, delighted at advancing to the final, said: “It was our goal to be in the final and we have managed to accomplish our goal so we are very satisfied and very excited to play in the final.”
About the game, she continued: “I think we are a better team in some areas and we have a plan which worked so it was pretty straightforward from the beginning.
“[But] we never take anyone for granted because, in sport, you never know what can happen.
“[Great Britain] are a very good team and I think we are a very good team also so it will be an interesting game and I think it will be interesting for the fans also,” she added.
