After two victories in two matches, OGC Nice handball has made a perfect start to their Ligue Butagaz Energie season. It’s a good start that the players of Sébastien Mizoule wanted to continue by attempting a third consecutive win.
Buoyed by their two victories in as many matches at the start of the Ligue Butagaz Energie season, the players of OGC Nice handball arrived in Normandy with full confidence. At Chambray, the OGC Nice handball players arrived with a reduced and slightly younger squad. “We have young players who are quickly adapting to the team. Tonight, we are somewhat handicapped with only ten outfield players and two goalkeepers,” explained coach Sébastien Mizoule before the match began.
This did not destabilize the Nice players, who started their match with intensity. The visitors took advantage of Chambray’s defensive frailties to quickly take the lead (4-0), thanks in part to a very strong start from Marie-Hélène Sajka.
A significant lead was largely due to the numerous saves by the new Azurean goalkeeper, Cécilia Errin, including one from a seven-meter throw. The Nice goalkeeper made her mark by following up with two more saves within a minute, frustrating the hosts and allowing her teammates to maintain a +5 lead.
The first quarter of an hour of the match was characterized by a goalkeeper duel. Chambray gradually got into the rhythm and managed to come back with some impressive plays. Both teams had their strong moments, but in this small battle, the Nice players managed to widen the gap. The first half concluded with a missed free-throw from Chambray, allowing Nice to lead (9-13).
Cécilia Errin Imperious
After the break, Marie-Hélène Sajka did it again and opened the scoring very quickly, closely followed by Cécilia Errin, still performing well in goal. Chambray, however, managed to inject a bit more pace into their attacks and took advantage of a slight lapse from the Nice players. Things sped up in the first ten minutes, with both teams exchanging blows and the gap remained steady despite a slight domination by the Normans.
In this contrast of styles, with Chambray relying on counters against the more structured play of the Nice team, Jovana Stoiljkovic got her side back on track. But an impressive Ehsan Abdelmalek responded by scoring three times. Nice maintained the gap and even drove home their advantage with two successful seven-meter throws from Marine Dupuis. With ten minutes left on the clock, the Maralpines were not troubled on the scoreboard (19-24). As soon as she returned to the field for her final minutes of play, Marie-Hélène Sajka drew a two-minute penalty that could cement the score. Thanks to several more saves from Cécilia Errin, the Nice players could breathe easily. Despite one last defensive mistake by the Azurean side, Chambray could not catch up.
Nice won through experience (25-28) and stayed close to the leaders in the Ligue Butagaz Energie, achieving their third victory in a row.
The next match is on Sunday at home, where the Nice team will host Dijon at 4 PM.
