The Handball Sportunion Leoben secured their place in the promotion play-off of the HLA CHALLENGE on Saturday with a 31:28 away win in Korneuburg. After the game, both teams were together at the public viewing, where they kept their fingers crossed for Austria in its 22:22 draw against Germany at the European Championships.
The Leoben team got off to a bumpy start on Saturday against Union Spk. Korneuburg, with the hosts leading by two goals in the 13th minute. The Montanstädter then switched their defense to a 5:1 variant, which meant that the Korneuburg attack could be better disrupted. “The tactical design was the key to success today. The team was able to implement the coaching team’s instructions well after a weak phase at the beginning,” said sporting director Mike Rainer with satisfaction.In the second half of the game, the Leobeners were ahead 16:14 and with discipline and a continuing good defensive formation, they pulled ahead by up to five goals. Particularly worth mentioning were six Leoben goals en-suite, which catapulted Hödl’s team from 20:20 to 26:21 and thus laid the foundation for the 31:28 away win. Marek Kovacech, who now has to undergo meniscus surgery, was the Montanstädter’s top scorer with nine goals, and with this success they finally secured their place in the promotion play-off of the HLA CHALLENGE.In the basic round, the second-placed Leobeners now have three more rounds to complete. On January 28th we will be away to WAT Atzgersdorf. The home game against Sportunion St. Pölten follows on Saturday, February 3rd. The final game will be the away game against league leaders West Vienna on February 10th.
Squad and goals: Pazemeckas, Reiter, Bautista; Kovacech (9/3), Bote (7), Kunst (7), Schweiger (3), Schüller (2), Stolz P. (2), Pucher (1), Huber, Jadron, Kvarits, Moser, Spitaler, Stromberger
However, the Leoben Future team suffered a defeat, but is still in 4th place in the table. In the 34:30 defeat, the young Montanstadters were only temporarily ahead in the middle of the first half, otherwise they had to chase a deficit.
Squad and goals: Bautista, Bezovnik; Fuchshofer (15/4), Schüller (5), Huber (3), Kvarits (3), Mayr (2), Stromberger (2), Florijancic, Traila
Words & Images courtesy of “Photo: Sportunion Leoben”.
