Youth and ZPK Directly in the Semifinals - Croatian Water Polo Association
After the competition in the group, two Zagreb teams have secured a direct placement in the semifinals of the Croatian Cadet Championship, whose final tournament is being held in Split from Thursday.
Dominant Frogs
The Frogs have justified their status as one of the favorites throughout the competition. The players from Mladost, coached by Ratko Štritof, continue to string together only victories. They convincingly triumphed in Group A. After starting on Thursday with a victory over Medveščak, they continued in the same rhythm on Friday.
First, they were double the score against the team from Korčula, with Dorian Komar standing out with 6 goals. In the 3rd round, Mladost was also better than Jug Adriatic Osiguranje. A high lead after the first 7 minutes (the duration of a quarter in the cadet age group) of 4:1, then an identical response by the young Gospar for 5:5 at halftime, and then the young Mladost players got into action. Four goals in three minutes, leading the Mladost team to a quick 9:5 advantage, practically sealing the deal. Of the 13 goals scored by the winners, 11 were scored by just two players - Vito Lokas with 6 and Dorian Komar with 5.
In Group A, the fight for the 2nd place was interesting and was won by KPK ahead of Jug players. The boys from the island won against Medveščak 15:14 in the 3rd round. The players from Korčula led throughout the game, with a 13:9 lead after the third quarter, but then faltered in the last quarter when the young Bears closed in on them to just one goal behind. The top scorers were Leon Vukanović (Medveščak) with 7 goals and Jakov Granić (KPK) with 6 goals.
Cavtat Ahead of Jadran
In Group B, ZPK achieved three victories. On Friday, they first defeated Cavtat by a minimal goal difference in a match that was not high-scoring. In the 3rd round, ZPK was much more convincing, defeating Mornar who didn't score a single goal in the third and fourth quarters.
The last match on Friday, the 3rd round of Group B, was also a clash for the 2nd place. Jadran and Cavtat entered this match level on points, with both clubs having 3 points each. Cavtat got off to a better start, leading 2:0 and 3:1, and remained in the lead throughout the match. The biggest lead was in the third quarter when Cavtat led by as much as 7:3 at one point. Jadran reduced the gap to 7:5 by the end of that period, then scored a goal a minute and a half before the end to further narrow it to 7:6 in favor of Cavtat. This was followed by about 90 seconds of intense struggle, with one side fighting to maintain the lead and the other to equalize. It ended with Cavtat's victory.
On Saturday morning, the first matches for a spot in the semifinals or the so-called "false quarterfinals" will be played, featuring: KPK - Jadran and Cavtat - Jug Adriatic Osiguranje. In the semifinals, Mladost awaits the winner of the match between the two teams from the southernmost county, that is, Cavtat and Dubrovnik, while ZPK will clearly await the winner of the clash between Korčula and Jadran.
