Oberhausen Day 2 - Let the Games begin

Finally, at 9 am local time the big moment had arrived. The first official match
of the CMAS Underwater rugby World Cup for Juniors 2018 between Germany
and the Czech Republic kicked off. The Germans from the beginning took the
initiative and scored the first goal on a penalty which was awarded to them.
Philip Kreisig, the captain of the German team, scored the first goal of the still
young world cup. 27 goals were to follow, until the Czech team sub came to the
Germans. All participating athlete did pay a lot of respect to the Czech players,
since they are a very young team and only had 8 guys and one girl, number 8
Jana Zákostelecká, to take on the Germans.

The other German goals were scored by:

Number 20 Philip Kreißig: 1:0, 5:0, 20:0, 28:0
Number 9 Lucas Meskes: 2:0
Number 5 David Kreißig: 3:0
Number 33 Max Kieth: 4:0, 12:0
Number 41 Julian Scheffczyk: 6:0, 13:0
Number 14 Carl Willem Höhle: 7:0
Number 6 Leon Pfau: 8:0
Number 8 Jannick Graf: 9:0, 23:0
Number 10 Frank Hilmann: 10:0, 11:0, 14:0, 21:0, 27:0
Number 3 Aaron Wessendorf: 15:0
Number 98 Tim Stolle: 16:0, 17:0
Number 30 David Scheffczyk: 18:0, 25:0
Number 42 Lukas Mardak: 19:0
Number 45 Felix Lenz: 22:0, 26:0
Number 1 Sören Musmann: 24:0

The second match of the day sported a Scandinavian clash between Norway
and Sweden. Sweden took the favorites Norwegians by surprise, when Robert
Sjöberg scored and the Swedes let 1-0 by half. The tying goal was scored by
Norwegians number 12 Otto Skare well into the second half. With 8:43 minutes
left to play Norway took the lead on a goal from Endre Grastveit. Nevertheless,
the Swedish team was not willing to give in and defend their goal utmost force.
With two minutes remaining the bravely fighting Swedes had to give in to the
furiously attacking Norwegians and finally lost the game 5 – 1 with goals for
Norway from Lars Gjermestad, Adrian Vinje and Even Sovik.

Game Number 3 saw the first women match of the day. The host team of
Germany started against Norway. The Germans went ahead 1 -0 nothing on an
early goal from Germanies number 17 Carina Bethke. The goal came after a
fast break which followed every step of the playbook. Germany had a couple of
good chances to go ahead 2-0 nothing at half time. Once the second half
started, it become obvious to the spectators crowding the video screen in the
cafeteria, that Norway was not willing to give in at all. The World Cup had its
first nail biter game: Norway kept attacking and attacking the German goal,
while the Germans, being pined to their own goal, kept a sharp eye on the game
clock. Early into the second half, the Germans lost number 18 Nell Voigt to
injury. She was replaced by number 16 Emma Karren, who despite having only
started playing underwaterrugby 18 month ago, played one heck of a game
Attack followed after attack, while the German defense bent, but did not break.
When the clock ticked down to zero, the Germans celebrated their victory
loudly and the tournament had its first small surprise.

At 12 am the Turkish and the Colombian male teams started their first-round
match. Again the spectators were spoiled with underwaterruby at the highest
level. The Turkish team went ahead 1-0 late in the first half on a goal scored by
number 7 Kerem Demir. Turky and Colombia continued to play on eye level. In
the second half the Colombian team gained slight advantages by drawing the
game to the bottom of the pool. With 9:47 minuntes left on the game clock, their
efforts were rewarded, when number 99 Juan Laverde scored the tying goal.
The game went back and forth for the remainder of the time and no team was
able to gain an advantage, thus after 30 minutes of real playing time the final
score was 1 – 1.

Game number 5 saw yet another Scandinavian classic: Denmark vs Finland.
With Finlands Number 12 15year old Hilla Savolainen, the second girl showed
the guts to battel it out with the boys. 7 Minutes into the game Denmark took
the lead. Number 5 Jonathan Henriksen scored for the Danish team. With 2
seconds left and the teams actually getting ready for half time, Jonathan
Henriksen struck again and scored the second goal for Denmark. Well into the
second half, Denmark’s number 7 Marius Gronlund scored. 2 minutes later, he
scored again extending Denmark´s lead to 4-0. A minute later Jonathan
Henriksen made it 5-0. However, the finishing touch to the game belonged to
Finland, when Jussi Vierula, Finlands number 3, scored the first goal of the
tournament for Finland.

Game 6 saw some hard playing between two equal teams: The Swedish women
team clashed against Colombia. The audience was entertained with a match
that went back and forth, which produced many near goal situations, but in
which no teams seemed to be able to gain the upper hand. With 5 seconds left
in the game everybody expected a 0-0 draw, it was decided by a luck punch:
Number 61 Leidy Arias scored for Colombia and basically finished the game.
The Colombian girls took home their first victory.

Norway and the Czech Republic was the pair to take to the pool next. The Czech
did again stage a vigorous fight, but had not chance against mighty Norway. 43
– 0 in Norway´s favor was the final score in a very one side match. The hearts
of the spectators however flew to the Czech team, whose efforts can be praised
high enough.

The goals for Norway were scored as follows:

Number 12 Otto Skare: 1-0, 16:0, 25:0, 26:0, 27:0, 29:0, 32:0, 34:0, 43:0
Number 11 Endre Grastveit: 2:0, 5:0,8:0
Number 4 Andre Kalvo: 3:0, 4:0, 12:0, 20:0, 33:0, 37:0
Number 14 Lars Gjermestad: 6:0, 14:0
Number 7 Matias Barsten: 7:0, 19:0, 21:0
Number 6 Hendrik Nesdal: 8:0, 9:0, 18:0, 30:0
Number 2 Jesper Haslund: 10:0
Number 5 Even Sovik: 11:0, 13:0, 15:0, 22:0, 35:0
Number 10 Anders Nodland: 17:0, 36:0, 42:0
Number 18 Oscar Wiik: 23:0, 24:0, 41:0
Number 8 Albert Lokkevol: 28:0, 31:0
Number 9 Adrian Vinje: 38:0, 39:0
Number 1 Sondre Jakobsen: 40:0

Game Number 8 so the Germans and the Swedes take the pool for the second
time of the day. While the Germans came of a comfortable victory against the
Czech Republic, the Swedes couldn´t allow themselves to lose the game, if they
wanted to still play a role with regards to the group victory. However, the
Germans took control early of the game. With a little bit over 2 minutes played
the Germans were able to conquer the ball thru nicely played forechecking.
The ball ended up in the arms of Germany´s number 14 Carl Willem Höhle, who
was able to lift the Swedish goalie of the basket and score for the 1-0 lead. The
game remained one sided and Germany was able to win it 11:0 and thus set up
a group stage final against Norway.

The goals for Germany were scored as follows:

Number 14 Carl Willem Höhle: 1:0
Number 20 Philip Kreißig: 3:0, 4:0, 7:0, 11:0
Number 9 Lucas Meskes: 8:0
Number 33 Max Kieth: 9:0
Number 41 Julian Scheffczyk: 2:0
Number 8 Jannick Graf: 6:0
Number 98 Tim Stolle: 7:0, 10:0
Number 45 Felix Lenz: 5:0

The final two games of the day were reserved to the ladies: In game number 9
Turkey and Norway were at center stage. At the middle of the first half, the
Turkish ladies had the Norwegians pinned to their own goal, after several tries
from above, Turkeys Number 1 Evrim Özsoy was able to capitalize on an error
of the Norwegian goalies, when replacing each other on the top of the basket.
The Turkish team continued to dominate the game and finished it 6:0 in their
favor.

The goals for Turkey:

Number 1 Evrim Özsoy: 1:0, 4:0
Number 10 Zelal Kaya: 2:0, 5:0, 6:0
Number 7 Fatma Yurday: 3:0

While it was the German men, who opened the day, it was the privilege of the
German ladies to close it with their second match against Sweden. The
Germans had beaten Norway in a nail biter 1:0, while the Sweden had lost on a
last second goal to Colombia. It was thus Sweden in need for a win. Sweden did
decide the swim off in their favor, but lost the ball to the German defense, which
was able to convert this gain into a fast break attack. This strategy proved
successful for Germany once again, when Number 21 Dana Bundesmann was
able to overcome the Swedish goalkeeper from above and score for Germanys
lead. Throughout the game, the Germans clung to that strategy: conquer the
ball and swim off on a fast break. Again, the German play was meet with
success, when Germanys Number 4 Anna-Christina Olt scored quickly of a ball
stolen away in midfield to put Germany ahead 2:0. That the German play had
more to it then fast breaks, was shown by the third goal: When again Germanys
Number 4 Anna-Christina Olt scored after the team had played a nice circle
around the Swedish goal for over two minutes. A penalty opened the day and a
penalty closed it: The Swedish goalie was called for lowering her shoulder into
the basket. The one on one duel was to be fought between the Swedish
goalkeeper and Germanies Number 77 Leonie Schäfle, who had 45 seconds to
score. The goalie defended the basket excellently and forced Leonie Schäfle to
surface. However, with 16 seconds left, Leonie Schäfle, whose lungs were
bursting with fresh air, was able to rip the goalie of the basket and sink the ball
for the final goal of the day. Germany defeated Sweden 4:0.

Fotos: D.Rockenbach /VDST