Herning-Ikast Handbold, who hold the record for number of wins in the EHF European League Women over the last two seasons, progressed to the EHF Finals Women for the second consecutive time on Saturday afternoon in Denmark.
The Danish side recorded a clear 33:28 win in the second leg of their quarter-final against SCM Ramnicu Valcea to take a 72:61 victory on aggregate.
QUARTER-FINAL, SECOND LEG
Herning-Ikast Handbold (DEN) vs SCM Ramnicu Valcea (ROU) 33:28 (16:12)
First leg: 39:33. Herning-Ikast Handbold won 72:61 on aggregate
- two suspensions for Valcea enabled Herning-Ikast to weather the storm and use a 3:0 run, spurred by two goals from right wing Cecilie Brandt, to take an 8:7 lead
- the Danish side secured their fourth win in as many games against Valcea in the past four years, with an average margin of 4.75 goals per game
- Valcea's three losses in the EHF European League Women 2021/22 came against Danish opponents – one against Viborg HK and two against Herning-Ikast
- after scoring 13 goals against Romanian side Magura Cisnadie, 17-year-old left back Julie Mathiesen Scaglione had another superb outing. Scaglione scored seven times to finish as Herning Ikast's top scorer
- Herning-Ikast and SG BBM Bietigheim, who have also progressed to the EHF Finals Women, are the only sides to enter the business end of the competition with at least eight wins in a row
Herning-Ikast record eighth win in a row
With a strong six-goal cushion from the first leg, Herning-Ikast had little worries against SCM Ramnicu Valcea in the second leg of their EHF European League Women quarter-final. Herning-Ikast's attack was once again superb and their trademark high-octane brand won all the plaudits.
An eight-game winning streak will make Herning-Ikast one of the teams to beat in the EHF Finals Women, despite the Danish side being the second youngest team still in the competition, with an average age of 23 years old. However, they hope to have learnt from their mistakes after conceding two losses at the business end of the EHF European League Women last season.