18th February 2017: The evening session started with the Pool C relegation games. Always difficult for teams to overcome the emotion of not making semi-final games and concentrate on the business of the day, i.e. avoiding relegation! First up was Royal Pingouin v SK Slavia Praha. In a game where Slavia were under attack from Pingouin, they managed to come away with a win! SV Armenin were forced to defend a 1-0 lead from the 4th minute v Kampong, which they did and prevailed to take the 5 points.
Royal Pingouin HC 0 – 1 (0 – 0) SK Slavia Prague
This was a vital game for both teams in their bid to stay in this division. Pingouin had an early chance to go ahead but the Slavia keeper was quick to deny them. Slavia then had a PC in the 16th minute, again they failed to get on the score sheet. A 0-0 scoreline going into the break was a reflection of missed chances for both sides.
A livelier second half as both teams again had chances in the D. Pingouin had a PC in the 34th minute which Slavia defended well. VANČUROVÁ had a great game between the posts for Slavia as she was under constant attack from the Belgians.
Pingouin, looking for the win, took their keeper off and BOON became a kicking back. A defensive error meant that the Belgians faced a PC without a keeper and Slavia scored in the 40th minute to get the win and end the day on 7 points and still with a chance of staying in the division.
SV Arminen 1 – 0 (1 – 0) SV Kampong
Another vital game between 2 teams who had things gone a bit differently could have made the semi-final and then find themselves battling to stay in the top flight. Armenin were the better team defensively. In fact they scored in the 4th minute and were forced to defend this lead for the rest of the game!
Speaking to Armenin captain Katharina SANDNER after the game, we asked her how her team is feeling now with a win v Kampong ” We are really happy now, because of this win we are safe. This was the aim for this match. It was a new tournament in Pool C, so we reached a goal.” Speaking about the morning session she shrugged and said “That’s sport, you go up or you go down.” She was very grateful to Armenin’s coaches and physios who prepared the players mentally and physically for the game. She she knew that they had a chance to beat Kampong, the focus of the team was to “Stay in our system and move one side to the other. We all did a good job.” Finally she added that now they want to finish 5th.