“In fact, it makes no difference who you meet in the semi-finals” – Sport – svenska.yle.fi

Helsinki IFK won the primary series victory in the FM Women’s Handball Series. The gap to second place Deakin was one point – after an action between the two teams on Saturday afternoon.

Deakin needed to win the final home regular season game against HIFK to take home the regular season. And he was about to finish second in the table – another goal was required to put IFK in second place.

– It feels great, it was the primary series victory we were going to have today. It was a little tricky and, as the scoreboard shows, exciting, HIFK’s Kathleen Axe tells Yle Sporten.

HIFK led 9-8 after the first half. The second half was rocking.

The visitors stepped up their five-goal lead at a relatively fast pace and appeared to be heading for victory in the regular season.

Deakin still ruled the game and with just over a minute remaining, Malena Häkkinen equalized to make it 21-21. That was the end result – after X’s penalty attempt was saved by Kira Itkonen with seven seconds left.

“She probably knew where I was going to throw and that was kind of a bad ending,” Ax says.

Decken v. Griefke in likeness

Thus, the cross meant that Deakin retained second place. Anna Lindholm found several reasons why her team could not win at home.

– There were a number of technical errors on our part and we may not have had all the judgments with us in the end. We also missed opportunities to move forward. That’s how it goes today, we’ll have to live with it and play a tougher semi-final instead, sums up Dickens’ player.

With a “tougher semi-final”, Lindholm indicated that Deakken now had to face Grankulla IFK, third in the table, in the playoffs.

It’s going to be a very difficult series and we have to be 100 percent focused before every game. It’s better than five and no one knows how long the streak could be.

– If we play like today, I think we have a good chance. Granigrotta is very difficult to play, so we have to fight for it, Lindholm thinks.

Ax is happy to meet Kyiv

In the second semi-final, Helsinfors IFK plays against Kyrkslätt IF. Kathleen Axe is satisfied that she will play against the fourth string.

– In fact, it makes no difference who you meet with, but we are probably glad that it was KyIF.

This year’s edition of the Essential Series has rarely been equal.

It was fun to play this season as there were other teams that got the game in good shape. It was tough matches, which is a joy for the fans, so it’s a shame the stands were empty.

– In order to motivate the players, it is also important that it is not always limited to HIFK and Dicken, Ax points out.

Qualifying starts at the end of March.

Results of the FM Women’s Handball Series:

Decken-HIFC 21–21 (8–9)
rod: Malena Heikkinen 7, Emilia Falcamo 4, Matilda Pizarro 4, Anna Westerlund 3, Carla Itkkonen 2, Lynn Wentzl 1
HEVC: Kathleen X7, Ella Holopainen 4, Petra Gostovsky 3, Nadja Stersche 2, Anina Niholm 2, Kira Harkonen 2, Ida Vaerinen 1

SIF – KyIF 30-29 (15-10)
SIF: Saara Lehtola 7, Nea Puijola 6, Madeleine Lindholm 6, Erica Gustafsson 5, Sara Falck 4, Matilda Sjöstedt 1, Natalie Jürgens 1
Kyiv: Ingrid Degerth 8, Maja Sanholm 6, Emilia Karel 4, Misa Balkuranta 3, Anno Bellström 2, Daniela Lindgaard 2, Malena Ekman 2, Sani Latvala 1, Fanny Brohman 1

Atlas–GrIFK 20–36 (11–20)
atlas: Lisa Holopainen 6, Mariella Lonqvist 6, Milla Maristo 4, Adriana Jakimova 2, Kristina Helaskowski 1, Veronica Jaro 1
griffk: Johanna Healy 8, Karolina Renberg 7, Greta Wehren 3, Matilda Sandblom 3, Sandra Laitinen 3, Emma Wikstrom 3, Christina Renberg 2, Linnea Harms 2, Cecilia Schällin 2, Corinna Jensen 1, Alexandra Karsten 1, Matilda Ohfo 1