The results of the first day of the IKF Europa Cup 2010 finals in Herentals (BEL):

Ceske Budejovice - Orel STU
Szentendre KK - Adler Rauxel
DOS’46 Engeldot - Clube Corfebol de Oeiras
Trojans - Boeckenberg KC

Ceske Budejovice - Orel STU
The opening game of the 2010 Europa Cup in Herentals was between Ceske Budejovice from Czech Republic and Orel STU from Russia.  The game started cautiously with the first goal from Orel coming in the 5th minute closely followed by another.  Both teams then traded goals with a half time score being 6-9 in favour of Orel.  The second half started with Orel scoring first stretching to a 4 goal lead, but Ceske Budejovice then pulled back to bring the game to 10-10 making for an exciting final 20 minutes.  Ceske then pulled ahead for the first time to take the game to 13-11.  Both teams then traded goals and were level in the 57th minute before Orel pulled ahead with a two goal lead which they saw out to the final whistle.  Final score 19-17 in favour of Orel STU.

Szentendre KK - Adler Rauxel
The second game of the day came between Szentendre of Hungary and Adler Rauxel of Germany.  The game started slowly, both teams looking a little nervous with the score being 1-1 after 10 minutes.  The first half continued in the same manner with both teams trading goals, but Adler Rauxel were slightly more successful in finding the korf as they pulled ahead to take the first half 8-5.  The second half continued as they had finished scoring the next three goals to open up a commanding 11-5 lead.  The half continued with Adler Rauxel scoring two goals for each korf that Szentendre scored.  The final score 21-13 in favour of Adler Rauxel, with Henning Schmidt being the top scorer of the game with 6 goals.

DOS’46 Engeldot - Clube Corfebol de Oeiras
DOS’46 Engeldot of The Netherlands were up next against Clube Ccorfebol de Oeiras from Portugal.  After some confusion over the starting sections for DOS’46 Engeldot, they started the game with a full strength side and for the first 15 minutes CC de Oeiras kept in touch keeping the score 3-2 in favour of DOS’46 Engeldot, who then found another level and continued to slot home goal after goal.  The half time score was 23-7 to DOS ’46. CC de Oeiras made their 4 substitutions at half time hoping to gain on their opponents.  However, the second half continued much as the first with both teams playing good korfball, but it was DOS ’46 who found the korf more often.  They stretched their lead to a 30-12 lead with 20 minutes to go.  The final score was 45-15 in favour of DOS’46 Engeldot. Despite the high scoreline the team from Portugal put in a great performance and battled to the end.  This could be team to watch for the rest of the tournament.

Trojans - Boeckenberg KC
After the Opening Ceremony, the final game of the day was Trojans from England against the local side (and their supporters!) Boeckenberg KC from Belgium.  The game started at pace with Boeckenberg finding the korf more often than Trojans racing to a 6-1 lead after 6 minutes.  Trojans then got a couple of quick goals to bring the game up to 8-3.  With just over 5 minutes of real time play in the first half, Boeckenberg took the lead to 15-5, before the half closed at 18-7 in favour of Boeckenberg.  Trojans made a couple of half time subs but Boeckenberg piled on further pressure taking the first goal of the second half.  Both teams upped the tempo of the game and fought hard, but Boeckenberg made it difficult for Trojans to put shots away before the shot clock counted out and in the end Boeckenberg pulled away again stretching the lead to a final score of 31-12.