CN Sabadell closed its perfect year in which it won the Copa de la Reina, the Champions League and added his twentieth League title, all of them in the final against CN Mataró (10-6) that has tasted the poison of the runner-up up to three times and has shed tears of frustration: it closes the course with the Super Cup title and with three second places. Be that as it may, and although his name does not appear in the list of winnersHis season has been magnificent, just one step below that of an insatiable CN Sabadell, the most legendary women’s team in Spanish sports, which has won everything in the last two decades. Las Maica García, Laura Ester, Mati Ortiz or Judit Forca have been present in almost all the hits.
Before the denouement, in the Can Llong candy box Mataró took the lead in a hectic first quarter in which Laura Ester and Maria Elena Sánchez proved to be in tune. The CN Sabadell goalkeeper saved Anni Espar’s penalty: Pajarito flew to his left side, he had his lesson learned after the three penalties scored by the CN Mataró player in the second game on Thursday. Before that, the Dutch Van der Sloot had put the home team ahead in a counterattack. The game was a give and take: long possessions, shots to the post, great defenses… Until Avegno, after a great reverse and counterattack, equalized and Anni Espar, at the limit of possession, recovered from the missed penalty (1-2). An extraordinary save by María Elena ended the first eight minutes.
But the scenery changed in two minutes. Judit Forca’s decisive left foot appeared to turn the game around (3-2) with a violent launch and a soft chip. Dani Ballart was shown the yellow card for angrily protesting an exclusion, while he pointed to the stands, implying that the referees had been carried away by environmental pressure. An imbalance in the stands that caused controversy before the start of the game: CN Sabadell only distributed 20 tickets to Mataró fans, when in the second game played at Maresme the entrance was free. Ballart’s anger did not upset his team, quite the contrary. El Mataró equalized again in two superiorities, the work of the Hungarian Keszthelyi and Silvia Morell. With three seconds to go, in a quick transition, Van der Sloot made it 5-4. CN Sabadell was ahead, but had left.
The power hammer from CN Sabadell destroyed Mataró in the third quarter. Despite equalizing with a goal from the Hungarian Kestzehlyi (5-5) and another from Cristina Nogué after a magnificent assist from Ana Gual, who balanced another genius from Van der Sloot (6-6), CN Sabadell pressed one more point in defense and Dani Ballart’s men crashed again and again against the local wall. For more luck for the women from Valles, players who until now had been obscured by their defensive work and by the work of Mataró began to thrash. Maica García opened the gap and celebrated it (8-6) with rage, while Van der Sloot scored his fourth goal to make it 7-6 previously and Judit Forca, at the limit of the fourth, burst María Elena Sánchez’s goal from ten meters (9-6). Ballart took his players to the locker room before the final set.
The coach’s harangue, former Olympic champion in Atlanta ’96, didn’t work. Judit Forca, after several insistent attacks, scored the 10-6 that settled the final with five minutes to go. CN Mataró tried to close the gap without success, and the game ended goallessly, with a crowd that could not contain their joy at the cry of champions and CN Sabadell that ended with another party. One more.