Astralpool CN Sabadell returned it to Assolim CN Mataró. The two great powers of Spanish women’s water polo met again in a final, the Copa de la Reina, and this time it was the team from Valles who imposed their success to recover the crown that their rival stole from them in the 2022 edition del Maresme (8-6) in Terrassa. It is the 18th Copa de la Reina for Sabadell.
Maximum equality between the two teams this season, both with a foot and a half in the Final Four of the Champions League. It was the third domestic final they had played, with victory for Sabadell in the Catalunya Cup in October, and a few days later, for Mataró in the Spanish Super Cup. In the Liga de División de Honor, 1-1, with a victory from Valles in the Joan Serrat (9-16) in the first round, in November, and a replica from Maresma in Can Llong just two weeks ago (12-13). So in the Terrassa final they broke the tie.
In the Terrassa final, the duel could not have been more even and with alternatives on the scoreboard. The one who was most successful ended up imposing, Astralpool Sabadell, guided by a spectacular Bea Ortiz with three goals, which earned her the recognition of MVP.
Sabadell opened fire with a 2-0 win with two great goals from Bea Ortiz, supported by a strong defense that could only be broken by Cristina Nogué (2-1) on a loose ball.
In the second quarter, Mataró, who recovered Anni Espar from her stay in Australia, changed the trend in the final by strengthening the defense, and with their goalkeeper María Elena Sánchez building a wall, to leave a clean sheet. Meanwhile, in attack, Dani Ballart’s team found the opening through the Dutch pair Simone Van der Kraats and Vivien Sevenich, and the Hungarian star Rita Keszthelyi made it 2-4 before the break.
But Sabadell did not lower its arms. A controversial goal that required a VAR review -which premiered in the Queen’s Cup- led to the 3-4 of the Dutch Sabrina van der Sloot, who broke a 10-minute drought without scoring and led to the furious reaction of the Vallesanas: a 4-0 run finished off by Elena Ruiz, Bea Ortiz and Maica García to make it 6-4.
In the last period, CN Mataró closed the gap with Avegno’s 6-5, but Elena Ruiz finished off with 3 minutes to go with 7-5. The last hope from Maresma was Van der Kraats’ goal with one minute to go, but in the last attack Van der Sloot scored for Sabadell.
Astralpool CN Sabadell: Ester, Mati Ortiz, Leiton, Van der Sloot (2), Serrano, Steffens, Elena Ruiz (2), Maica García (1), Forca, Bea Ortiz (3), Nona Pérez, Irene González, Carrasco.
Assolim CN Mataró: Sánchez, Sílvia Morell, Van der Kraats (2, 1p), Anna Gual, Sevenich (1), Keszthelyi (1), Cambray, Nogué (1), Avegno (1), Bertran, Anni Espar, Claveria, Carmona
Referees: Gomez and Martin. No eliminated.
Partials: 2-1, 0-3, 4-0, 2-2
