A bittersweet winning draw
This Saturday marked the end of the regular season with an emotion fueled match against HC Olten.
A week before the match, Servette knew a win, or a draw was a must with Luzern just 3 points behind and with an extra match to be played on the Wednesday night. An overturned result from this fixture drew Servette and Luzern even on points with both teams’ final matches to be played on Saturday. To progress to the Final Foue, Servette must have achieved more points than Luzern from Saturday’s fixtures.
Stade de Richmont played host for this fixture on a hot summers afternoon in what turned out to be a high energy end to end contest. Servette started off strong and soon took the lead early into the first quarter with a composed finish by Matthieu with the ball delivered by Louis T.; a move straight off the training ground. With adrenaline pumping and the heat not yet taking effect, a counterattack up the left side led to Gaël converting a powerful strike into the bottom corner, 2-0 Servette.
After a fast start, the pace slowed down before Olten struck back with a goal making the score 2:1 leading into half time. Heading into the break in the lead helped maintain the team’s motivation and energy levels.
It was in the third quarter where Servette won their first penalty corner of the match. With advice from Fred, the ball was injected and trapped at the second castle before Ed flicked across goal to the keepers’ bottom right, increasing Servette’s lead to 3-1. Several penalty corners followed, with Servette missing and Olten scoring. The scoreline was brought back to 3-2 with the final quarter to play.
The final quarter was tense, and soon became disjointed with a mixture of fatigue, turnovers and counter attacks. Both teams had their chances with Servette playing well up the pitch but not finding the inside of the goal from several well-constructed phases of play, whilst escaping a few near misses themselves thanks to some good saves from Louis Z. With 5 minutes to play, an unfortunate deflected ball found the Olten striker and despite an initial save, the ball bounced into the net drawing the scores even at 3-3. Both teams continued to attack and scramble back in defense, but no team could convert, ultimately, leading to the final score of 3-3.
From here it was down to the 5 players on shuffles. With the knowledge that Luzern were drawing to Zurich, Servette knew a win was a must. Full of ambition, Arnauld, Jérémy and Gaël converted whilst Louis Z. held strong, conceding just 1 goal from 4. Servette won with a score of 3-1 giving them the second point.
With Luzern winning their tie with Zurich, Servette’s chances of the Final Four are slim as both teams won 2 points but Luzern having the better goal difference places them ahead in the league table. The final judgement of Wednesdays overturned fixture between HC Olten and LSC landhockey is all that can now progress Servette to the Final Four.
This result represents Servette’s ability to compete at the top level but still holds a bittersweet feeling.
Edward MacTavish
Photo: Christian Wyss-Chodat
