Chandigarh: Kalinga Lancers (KL) overcame some nervy moments to enter the final of HIL-V defeating Uttar Pradesh Wizards (UPW) via penalty shoot-out in the first semifinal here Saturday. In the final they will meet Dabang Mumbai, who beat Delhi Waveriders 2-0 in the other semifinal here.
Both teams were locked 4-4 as the match went down to the wire. In the regulation shootout, both sides scored two goals each and the match went into sudden death tie-breaker. KL players held their nerves to prevail 4-3 after both sides had taken eight shots each, including the sudden death.
Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter was the star of the day for KL. His saves against Akashdeep Singh in regulation tie-breaker, kept Lancers in the game, when a goal would have seen the end of their campaign. He also saved Akashdeep’s effort in sudden death to take Lancers over the line
After both sides had finished at 4-4 in regulation time, the regulation shootout took place. Lalit Upadhyay and Aron Zalewski scored for KL while Moritz Fuerste, Adam Dixon and Dharamvir Singh failed to sound the boards. In the sudden death, Fuerste missed again, but Upadhyay and Zalewski scored to help Lancers qualify for the second successive season.
Earlier, Akashdeep Singh of the Wizards pumped in a field goal in the dying minutes of the allotted time after the Lancers were leading 4-2.
The Lancers, who were down 1-2 at the half time, came back strongly post interval to turn the tables on the Wizards. Mortiz Fuerste and Devinder Walmiki converted two penalty corners while Billy Bakker got a field goal to script the turnaround.
UP Wizards took an early lead when Belgian Florent Van Aubel scored in the fourth minute converting a pass from Arthur van Doren. Being a field goal, it was counted as two as per tournament rules.
However, their failure to convert three penalty corners which came their way, prior to the interval cost them dearly. Charter made two outstanding saves off Gonzalo Peillat and Ramandeep Singh to keep Lancers in the game.
Just three minutes before end of the first quarter, Walmiki scored off a rebound from a penalty corner to reduce the margin for the Lancers.
Buoyed by the goal, Lancers came back strongly after the interval with Fuerste equalising from the second penalty corner in the fourth minute of the third quarter. Then early into the fourth quarter Bakker showed some great skills to put Lancers ahead. But Akashdeep then scored a field goal to add twist to the tale.
PTI
