Gwardia Opole beat Sandra Spa Pogoń Szczecin 25-30 (12-11). The second half of the game and a fantastic performance from Adam Malcher, the visiting team’s goalkeeper, determined the final result.
One of the heroes of Poland national team during the World Championship in France continues to shine – despite the injury, his 50% save rate suppressed the appetite of the Szczecin team.
“I am glad we won this match and started the new year with a victory. I hope it will give us the boost we need. We had expected a very tough game and that’s what we got. But we have two points and we are ready to start the second part of the season,” said Adam Malcher after the game.

The first period was very close, though the visiting team seemed to have some edge. Pogoń’s defense was tight, and thanks to the consistent performance of goalkeeper Edin Tatar, Mariusz Jurasik’s players only managed to get in the lead right before half-time, despite playing in offense for most of the first half.
The beginning of the second period was crucial for the outcome. Like during the tournament in Gryfice, players from Szczecin seemed to be asleep during the first ten minutes after half-time, and the visiting team managed to get a five-goal cushion and keep it until the end of the game.

“Sadly that is not how we imagined the year would start”, said backcourt Paweł Krupa. “In the first half, Opole scored only 11 goals, everything seemed to work fine but, unfortunately, we repeated some old mistakes in the second period. In a week, we play with Wybrzeże, and we stay optimistic. This defeat is not the end of the world, we still have a lot of home games and we will do our best to win them”, said Krupa.
Jakub Radosz, who had joined in-between rounds, scored his first goal in the Superleague, getting past Adam Malcher with a wing shot.
Sandra Spa Pogoń: Tatar, Morawski – Grzegorek, Bruna 5 (5/6), Radosz 3, Wąsowski 2, Krupa 2, Bosy 1, Jedziniak 2, Konitz 4 (1/1), Jurasik 3, Zaremba, Kniaziew 2 (0/1), Fedeńczak 1.
Seven-meter throws: 6/8
Penalties: 8 min. (Bosy, Jedziniak, Zaremba, Kniaziew – 2 min.)
Gwardia: Zembrzycki, Malcher – Lemaniak 4, Adamski, Siwak 2, Łangowski 4, Bąk 2, Tarcijonas 2, Mokrzki 4, Jankowski 1, Zadura 7, Morawski 4 (4/4).
Seven-meter throws: 4/4
Penalties: 18 min. (Lemaniak, Adamski, Siwak – 2 min., Bąk, Mokrzki, Jankowski – 4 min.)
Referees: Demczuk, Rosik (both from Lubin)