River Plate beat Nacional 24-18 in the first semifinal of the SCA Women’s Club Handball Tournament at the Ginásio Poliesportivo Raphael Martins dos Santos in San José, Brazil.
An evenly matched duel with few shots on goal in the first 5 minutes of the match, Maira Carletti of River Plate managed to score and open the scoreboard. The Argentines, effective in their attacks and with a solid defense, provoked Nacional’s coach, Silvio Rodrigues Da Silva, to ask for Time Out to give some instructions to his players, which was enough to score the first goal by Giulia Pieri Santos.
The game had a 3 goal difference and River’s defense was very well stopped without generating spaces for its rival. Nacional looked to convert with double pivot but could not penetrate their opponent’s defensive line. The outstanding performance of goalkeeper Leila Niño also played a role in securing the first half in favor of River Plate 14-9.
In the final 30 minutes, the team coached by Nicolás Margari, knew how to manage the game, making the rival uncomfortable. Fast and effective starts made River win the match 24-18, becoming the first finalist of the SCA Senior Women’s Club Handball tournament.
The MVP of the game was Leila Niño, goalkeeper of Club Atlético River Plate, who said: “Tomorrow is the big final, we don’t know if we will play Pinheiros or Ovalle, but we are one hundred percent prepared, we will analyze the opponent and recover today to be ready for tomorrow.
Post-match statements:
Rafaella Rafa, from the Nacional team: “Unfortunately we ended up losing this match which was very tough. We trained hard to be here, it was our dream to be in the final. Technically they were better than us, now we have to fight for the third place and we are going for it”.
Leila Niño, from the River Plate team: “We made a difference at the beginning, we had a very strong defense, we had studied what they were going to do, each player. I had studied the pitches, so that was the key, in the extensive study and also in improving our mistakes that we had been making in the previous games”.
Relive the semifinal between Nacional vs River Plate:
Photo: CosCABal/Germán Paez
By: Martina Gallo
