CC 2019: Women's Final: Vitkovice - IKSU 3-8 (1-2, 2-4, 0-2)

IKSU have been beaten the last time in a compulsory match in December 2017. How you include that in Vitkovice’s situation in the final now strongly depends on your way of thinking? Does that turn the Swedish champion into an unbeatable titan for the Czech? Or is that the chance for the underdog, the weak spot in the potentially overwhelming oppenent? After beating SB-Pro in the semis, Vitkovice definitely had nothing to loose. IKSU’s win against Piranha was nothing but a mandatory task for them to take. You could hope for a stunning floorball battle at the end of the Champions Cup women tournament.

There is a full size picture gallery of this match.

Vitkovice vs. IKSU – Match Report

The organizers counted more than 1,100 spectators, who felt to have a match as expected at the beginning of the first period: Veera Kauppi circled once around the goal in the 6th minute. Her shot was somehow blocked, but not really controlled, so that Oona Kauppi gave IKSU the lead. Less than a minute later, strong Nikola Prileska faced the second shot she could not save. Ellinor Berling interfered a pass by smart forechecking, Emelie Wibron passed to Sofia Joelsson, who scored the 2-0. Nevertheless, TEMPISH Vitkovice never gave. Again and again, there were minor attacks or even better chances. Sarka Bolova converted one in the 11th minute to close up after a nice left wing fast break. IKSU controlled the match, but Vitkovice did a great defensive work – and so the score was just 2-1 after twenty minutes.

Two more Vitkovice Goals in the second Period

The second period showed a tough battle with a couple of remarkable situations. The big names were in charge to score for the Northern Swedes in this match: Amanda Delgado Johansson hammered a rebounder in the 22nd minute. But Vitkovice stayed confident and converted a Joelsson minor penalty in the 25th for their second goal in the 25th minute. Joelsson raised the score to 2-4 just thereafter, but after minutes of tough floorball, Eliska Plankova showed in the 33rd minute that you should never give up. A straight attack with a long ball on the right wing gave her scoring position.

That would have been a really interesting intermission score, but Veera Kauppi showed to amazing solos in the last minutes of the period. You could say that the 6-3 score reflected the individual differences, but Vitkovice just showed an impressive performance.

Third Period: Wibron and Kauppi Only

Like at the Kauppi goals at the end of second period, the Czech felt slightly tired. Nevertheless, there was no huge defeat, just a decent raise in score. Wibron entered the scoresheet on the goals side in the 49th minute. The player of the match was Veera Kauppi, who did it again in the 51st minute, who forechecked in boxplay against three Vitkovice players and was awarded with a scoring opportunity.

Vitkovice vs. IKSU – My View of the Match

I have to start my view with the 2nd placed – really cannot call them loosers! The Czech champions were the team of the tournament to me. Yes, it would be too much to say that the match was a close battle, but Vitkovice made it much closer than expected. Mental and physical perfectly prepared and a game plan, which smoothly fit into their opponents game. There is a lot of talent in the Czech team. It would be great to see how these girls play on Champions Cup level next year. But a huge factor of that success was behind the bench, driven by excellent coaching. They surprised to be the second best team of the tournament. Nobody but them deserved these silver medals – and it was great to see that almost all girls were cheering at the winners’ ceremony.

“Excellent” is the right word for IKSU. Still unbeaten since…. long…, they played a great match. It is fun to watch these players, not just their top notch stars like the Kauppis. Nevertheless, these stars made the difference. While Vitkovice had a strategy which worked out against the slightly worse players, IKSU’s individual abilities were just too strong on some positions. Usually you feel with the underdog and blame the “Goliath”, but IKSU just fascinated with their way of playing.

Vitkovice vs. IKSU – Lineups

1. SC TEMPISH Vitkovice: 37 Nikola Prileska, 73 Petra Kleckova – 2 Alzbieta Durikova, 3 Sarka Bolova, 4 Michaela Kubeckova, 5 Marketa Kolarova, 9 Lenka Novotna, 13 Jana Troskova, 16 Zuzana Sponiarova, 17 Katerina Peterkova, 19 Veronika Enenkelova, 22 Sara Seevaldova, 25 Ivana Supakova, 26 Barbora Huskova, 44 Lucie Thiemerova, 48 Eliska Plankova, 50 Dominika Buczek, 68 Lucie Suchanova, 69 Justyna Krzywak, 71 Tereza Mikulova

IKSU: 95 Emelie Fallman, 1 Linnea Jonsson, 86 Lovisa Hedin – 3 Amanda Delgado Johansson, 4 Ellinor Berling, 6 Towa Eriksson, 8 Sandra Boric Svard, 11 Maja Viström, 12 Louisa Turton, 16 Jonna Stenvall, 17 Cornelia Fjellstedt, 19 Isa Johnsson, 21 Alice Granstedt, 26 Emelie Wibron, 27 Oona Kauppi, 28 Veera Kauppi, 39 Sofia Joelsson, 77 Emelie Engström, 88 Malgorzata Kulczyka, 98 Myra Aggestal