Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen achieved this Saturday a victory of utmost importance at the Municipal of Tías during the visit of Lleida Handbol Club (26-25) in a match corresponding to the twentieth round of the Women's Gold Division of Honor.
After winning this match, the scabby ones continue occupying the thirteenth position of the classification table with eleven points, at only one from Mislata and at two from this Sunday's rival, Lleida and Zaragoza.
The clash began with two saves from the visiting goalkeeper, Lara Peris, which did not prevent the good initial run by the "aurinegras" (2-0, min.5). Lleida did not get on the scoreboard until the sixth minute of the match against a serious defense from the locals and with Made Cortez quite accurate. A disqualification for each team led to the first visiting timeout (5-2, min. 17:27).
Leire González scored for Lleida after the break, but Puerto del Carmen continued with their own. Another Lleida disqualification, to Alicia González-Calero, was taken advantage of by the Tiñoseras (8-4, min.22:25). Lleida only managed to score from a penalty. Casanova called a timeout to take advantage of the last moments of the first half (min. 28:50) and they managed to score after the stoppage. Another two minutes for the visitors after a grab on Brenda Torres when she was escaping, swiftly, on the counterattack, closed the first half with a gold and black advantage (11-6).
Oriana Palumbo scored first after the restart, but the exchange of goals continued. The visiting goalkeeper, Lara Peris, continued with considerable success and contributed to an initial partial score, one to three, which provoked the tiñosero timeout (12-9, min.2:36). Dely Leiva scored after the break, but goals continued for both sides. In the seventh minute, a red card was issued to Mónica Cabrera after an accidental blow to an opponent's face. Lleida scored the penalty and began an individual defense on Beatriz Masseu (17-14, min. 9:35).
The match was played at a distance of between three and four goals in favor of the home team. Lleida called a timeout after a few minutes (20-16, 13:52). Both teams dried themselves during the next phase of the clash. The visitors kept rowing and narrowed the difference on the scoreboard. The post allied itself with the Tiñosera goal, now with Cristina Mazaira between the posts.
A goal by Masseu and another, into an empty net, by Brenda Torres, restored the three-goal advantage to Puerto with three minutes left to play. An unfortunate play stopped the match. Romina Machín fell injured on her left shoulder with the match in a fist. Lleida started to cause damage down the right flank and got within one with one minute left. Puerto lost the ball in attack and Lleida called a timeout in search of the equalizer with thirty-three seconds left on the clock. The visitors, after the break, committed an offensive foul, leading to the longed-for Tiñosera victory.
Caterina Rocío Casasola became the top scorer of the match with eight goals. In the black and gold ranks, Dely Leiva's seven goals stood out. For the Tiñosero coach, Jesús Casanova, “it was a match in which both teams knew what was at stake for us and that's why the match started with a lot of nerves on both sides, with turnovers, with bad play, hurried actions... But well, I believe that we, little by little, settled into the match. We were able and knew how to defend well,
with anticipation, with aggressiveness, with forcefulness. And we managed for the opponent to have only six goals at the end of the first half, which is undoubtedly a defensive success, accompanied by the goalkeeping."
"In the second half, once again, we fell back into the typical errors at the beginning of the second half that allowed the opponent to get closer. And from there, it was all a give and take, with moments of good play, moments of bad play, moments of individual defensive errors. The match became more complicated for us, first with Mónica's red card, which prevented us from having another central player, which hurt us quite a bit. And the last play with Romina's injury, which already finished breaking the schemes. But well, thank God we managed to hold on to those last balls, especially to score goals and that allowed us to reach the end of the match with that goal advantage. With a very good defense from Dely we were able to get the two points. Now nothing, to keep adding, to keep thinking about the next match. Let's see if we are able to get it out and we already get out of that second position from the bottom and we poke our head out of that relegation zone," concluded the coach of Puerto del Carmen," he continued.
With six matchdays left to play, Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen will return to competition next Saturday, March 21, at 7:00 p.m. (peninsular time), at CDM SIGLO XXI track B, in a new final with a rival from the bottom of the table, Schar Colores Zaragoza, a team that comes from drawing at home against Carballal (18-18) and occupies tenth place with thirteen points, two behind the scabby ones.