Julie Scaglione was the main shooter with five goals for Ikast, while Nieke Kühne and Alexia Hauf also ended on five goals for Blomberg, who failed to close their openings in defence and raise their shooting efficiency when the German team needed to do so in order to weather the Ikast storm.
In the EHF European League Women 2024/25 final on Sunday at 18:00 CEST, Ikast meet either another German side, Thüringer HC, or JDA Bourgogne Dijon from France, who contest the second semi-final later on Saturday.
SEMI-FINALS
HSG Blomberg-Lippe (GER) vs Ikast Håndbold (DEN) 18:28 (6:16)
- right wing Cecilie Brandt guided Ikast in the opening phase, as she scored four times in the first 10 minutes to help her team open a seven-goal lead (10:3)
- Ikast dominated on both ends of the court, with a strong defence and efficient shooting to round off their trademark fast attacks
- Blomberg were outplayed throughout, but did score one of the goals of the match when Nieke Kühne was set up by Lisa Rajes for a stunning in-flight goal
- already in the first half, Ikast fans in the stands of the Raiffeisen Sportpark knew for sure that their team would go through to the final as they walked the polonaise
- Blomberg started the second half with a 3:0 run as Ikast failed to score for nearly five minutes, but the comeback was never really on
- Ikast rushed less in the second half, as the difference at the end was again 10 goals
Ikast’s Markéta Jerábková returns — and scores again
Scoring has always been business as usual for Markéta Jerábková throughout the Czech star’s career. She scored 100 goals for Ikast in the EHF Champions League last season, and 118 for title-winning Vipers Kristiansand the year before. Still, the ‘only’ three goals Jerábková contributed to Ikast’s thumping 28:18 victory over Blomberg were special for her.
Jerábková took a break from the sport in January after announcing her pregnancy. But, as her club Ikast said in a statement on their website, she lost her unborn child. Overcoming the personal tragedy, Jerábková returned to court on Saturday, and netted three times from seven-metre penalties. More to come, for sure.
We are going to sleep tonight and think a little bit, we will see our video and the mistakes we have done. But tomorrow we have another chance to get a medal. We will fight with everything that we have.
We had to be ready for the game, we needed to have respect for the team Blomberg-Lippe, who have done well this tournament. We wanted to run a lot, make it hard for them to succeed in this game and the players were ready from the beginning.
