Eibar women’s team reach the Basque Cup Final
A goal by Haizea Lomba secured the victory for the gunsmiths, who will play for the title against Añorga
The SD Eibar women’s side brilliantly defeated Bizkerre from Getxo 1–0 and reached the final of the Basque Cup, in which they will face another team from Gipuzkoa, Añorga.
The tournament has advanced with ties of a single game, with the draw for each round deciding where the matches are played and, after two ties played away from home, it was at Unbe where the azulgranas obtained the reward of a place in the final after a hard-fought game.
At this stage of the season, accumulated tiredness effects all the teams, the results are close and nobody seems to find it easy. The other finalist. Añorga, imposed themselves in the penalty shoot-out after a 0–0 draw against San Ignacio.
In the encounter against Bizkerre, Eibar were without some important players. In addition to Laura Prieto and Haizea Ribera, who said goodbye to the season months ago with serious injuries, for this game the gunsmiths were without the defender Yaiza Fernández and the midfield player, Melani Concepción, with Haizea Lomba, who was a doubt until the last minute finally playing despite carrying a knock.
They weren’t the best of circumstances for such an important clash, especially on a hot afternoon that took its toll on all the protagonists due to the high tempo the game was played at, particularly in the first half. No one was prepared to give an inch of ground and pressure and intensity took precedence over technical quality all over the pitch. There were practically no scoring occasions for either side: Naiara Lete had a shot from a good position that went narrowly wide but there was hardly anything else of note in the first half.
After the restart, it was Bizkerre who gave the first fright with their best chance of the game, but the post repelled the shot and saved the azulgranas, who breathed a collective sigh of relief on seeing that it hadn’t gone in. Alaine Marcos also had a chance–coming from the back onto a loose ball–but her thunderbolt went over the bar when it seemed easier to find the net than shoot over.
The key moment of the game came in the 68th minute. Alaine, who had just had an excellent opportunity herself, was replaced by Haizea Lomba who, having only been on the pitch for some 15 seconds, picked up a forward pass with her right foot, beat the defenders for speed and shot with her left, with the ball going in at the far post past the despairing dive of the rival keeper.
It was the desired 1–0 lead that could mean reaching the final and from then on it was enough to hold on and repel the attempts to equalise by the team from Getxo. It wasn’t easy, because Bizkerre threw everything into the attempt and there was barely enough energy left in the gunsmiths to defend the advantage. Finally, after a lot of uncertainty and nervousness, the 90th minute arrived, to the delight of the gunsmiths’ squad, who celebrated the achievement on home turf knowing that they had again made history.
In the Basque Cup, the eibarresas had previously reached the final on 5 occasions: beating Sondika in 1996 and Añorga twice, in 2002 and 2006, whilst losing to Oiartzun in 2000 and against Real Sociedad in 2007. This season they have again reached the decisive match, with the ground factor against them because the draw has gifted home advantage to Añorga–this old acquaintance that happens to be the side that eliminated Eibar in the first round of the competition in 2015.
There are however grounds for optimism, because Eibar brilliantly won the two league games played between the sides this season, by 0–3 in Añorga and 3–1 in Unbe, against a side that has occupied places at the top of the table and will, without doubt, make things very difficult for the gunsmiths, in a game that promises excitement.
Eibar starting line-up: Iratxe, Ariane (Miren San Martín), Olatz, Alaitz, Irune, Alonso (Anega), Larrus, Maitane, Naiara, Irati (Juaristi) and Alaine (Haizea Lomba).
Goal: 1-0 Haizea min.68