Buceschi's fourth hummel Player of the Match performance lifts Romania past Poland

With another double-digit performance from centre back Eliza Buceschi, Romania clinched a 27:26 win against Poland, finishing the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship on the 12th place. 

Main Round
Group III
Poland vs Romania 26:27 (10:13)

Both teams were on four points before the start of the match and only one could have sealed a higher place in the final standings, the winner, with this being the sole objective, as neither of them had a clear path towards a ticket to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments come next April.

For Romania, it was the chance to avoid their worst finish at the IHF Women’s World Championship since 2001, when they ended up on the 17th place, while Poland had a shot of reaching the top 10, but everything needed to fall into place, as their losses against Denmark and Germany weighed heavily.

Therefore, with both sides also playing for pride, it was a tight and cagey match, yet Poland got off to a slow start, as misses against goalkeeper Daciana Hosu, who had seven saves for a 43% saving efficiency, and turnovers hampered their progress. Romania duly took advantage, in spite of some misses for themselves and created a 5:2 early lead.

From that moment on, it was Poland playing catch-on, as Romania had five one-on-one missed shots, with crucial shots from Crina Pintea or Lorena Ostase, their two line players, being saved by goalkeeper Adrianna Płaczek.

Nevertheless, Romania were in front, 13:10, at the break, as their top scorer, centre back Eliza Buceschi, shined once again, hitting five goals in the first half, to jump to the second place in the top goal scorer standings, in her last match at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship.

New mistakes from Poland helped Romania copy-paste their start from the first half, with a 3:0 unanswered run spurred by Cristina Laslo and Eliza Buceschi, opening the largest lead of the match, 17:12, after 35 minutes, as Romania were clear on their path to secure a win by at least 10 goals, their only chance to extend hopes for a place in the Olympic Qualification Tournaments.

It looked like game over, but Poland did not want to lose the chance to seal a win and secure a better finish at the end of the competition, as they properly launched a comeback, using a 3:0 run to cut the gap, than progress to tie the score, 25:25, for the first time since the start of the match, prompting a team time-out for Romania, after right wing Magda Balsam reached a seven-goal tally in the 54th minute.

Poland had multiple chances to go in front or tie the score again, but they failed to do so, with three one-on-one such opportunities missed, while Romania kept their cool and eventually sealed a 27:26 win, which saw them end up on the 12th place at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship.

Buceschi was the hummel Player of the Match for the fourth time in six matches at Denmark/Norway/Sweden 2023, after another 11-goal outing, jumping to the top place in the goal scorer standings, with 47 goals, one goal more than Marketa Jerabkova.

hummel Player of the Match: Eliza Buceschi (Romania)