Switzerland and Ireland rematch in the final!
July 5, 2019 by Christina Obermayer in News with 0 comments
As EUC is starting with championship Saturday, two teams are advancing to the women’s final – Ireland and Switzerland.
Semis Stories
Ireland won their semi final against Russia with a great performance by their top end players ad their depth 15-12. Ireland has been tested so far, with some pool play losses against Russia, Germany and Finland earlier this week. They had trouble connecting on their offense after the turn and used their strength to overcome some of the teams that were title contenders early during the week. It looked like their mental game did not match up with their talent they brought on the field. In the end, they did manage to win the right games, peaking at the best time of the tournament, on semi final Friday.
The semi was a re-match against their power pool opponent Russia, which took place in the stadium with a lot of people cheering for both sides. Their start into the game was good, but it was not until the second half that they really turned up the heat. This might have been helped by the Irish mixed side who, after finishing their game, came to cheer on their strong women’s side. Momentum shifted into Ireland’s favor and stayed there until the end. Russia had trouble connecting, pressured by the tight Irish defense. In the end, the score is the same as in their earlier meet up on Tuesday, 15-12, but this time the score was flipped in Ireland’s favor.
Switzerland won their semi final against Italy with a score of 15-9, after Laura Farolfi was injured the Swiss just looked a bit better and commanded the rest of the game. In a repeat performance of 2015, the Swiss team has qualified for the European Ultimate Championship final once again. Switzerland’s way to the final was a very similar one to Ireland’s. They had to suffer losses to Russia and Finland as well during the pool phase of the tournament before clicking in bracket play to get to the final.
Switzerland showed more composure during the semifinal than the Italians in a game influenced by wind and injuries on both sides. The Italian side could not match up with the Swiss mental as well as their physical strength. The Swiss coach talked about working with a conditioning trainer Camden Allison-Hall, who trains with Seattle Sockeye, to get the whole team into European title contending shape.
What about the final?
Switzerland and Ireland have not met up this season or at this tournament. The closest we have seen was a matchup between Switzerland and the Irish team Deaskeagh at Tom’s Tourney earlier this season.1 Switzerland managed to win in a tight game, and as the coach Derek Gottlieb said: “Honestly, I haven’t ever thought about a game about the Irish team”, the two were not expected to match up in the final, but here we are after deserved semifinal wins.
As goals for the game against Ireland, Gottlieb talked about cleaning up their offense, but he is also hoping for less wind to show the European scene the best possible display of what women’s ultimate has to offer. The Irish coach Ian French talked about how they had a goal during the preparation period, which was going for gold. They managed to focus on playing their own game at their pace as a team by concentrating on this one goal up until now. According to Ian French, they will step their game up one last time for this final. Watch out for this women’s final tomorrow, it will be a great contested game for sure, either of these teams could win with a good performance. The game will be streamed at 12:15 CET.
Deskeagh featured seven Ireland women’s players ↩
