Ruislip Eagles Ladies coach Kerstin Papenfuss hailed the “total team effort” which went into stunning national champions Olympia.
Eagles edged the match 21-20, inflicting on Olympia their first Super 8 defeat since the beginning of last season.
With their defence holding firm, Ruislip pulled into an 8-4 lead, at which point the Olympia coach called a time out.
That did have some effect on the balanace of play but Eagles still went into half-time with a 10-8 lead.
Olympia, who won all their league matches last term, began the second half strongly and got themselves level at 11-11, but from there, the Eagles just kept their noses in front for the rest of the match.
Elisabeth Heyerdal-Larsen was a key figure in goal, while May-Hilde Akselsen was the Eagles’ top scorer with six goals, closely followed by Laila Jensen (five) and Dorina Tituleasa (four).
Papenfuss said: “It was great to finally see everything come together. This was total team effort.
“I was particularly impressed with how the girls worked hard in defence and helped each other out. Also the shooting has improved. I hope we can build on this performance in the next matches.”
Meanwhile, Eagles’ men had to settle for a draw against Olympia after a dramatic finish.
Having beaten Warrington Wolves the previous week, the Eagles were looking to go top of the Super 8 and although they outplayed Olumpia early on, some sloppy shooting meant the lead never extended beyond just a few goals.
At half-time, Ruislip were 14-11 in front but after the break Olympia chipped away at the lead, pegging the Eagles back with regularity.
Then, at 25-25, Eagles mounted what looked like the final attack of the match, and Hannes Mazur was fouled on the line in the act of shooting.
Michael Vitello converted the penalty, and with 16 seconds remaining the win looked in the bag.
But Olympia were not to be denied and capitalised on Ruislip’s chaotic defending to level the game just before the end.
Eagles coach Marc Fayemi said: “When games are closely fought and intense we need to maintain our composure and put the game away.
“This is the second time this season we did not manage to close out a game in which we held the lead for almost 60 minutes.”
This weekend, Eagles men travel to Belgium to play Vise HC in the Challenge Cup.
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