In the Group 7 semifinals, the representative women’s team of Šiauliai city faced the Scottish champion Edinburgh FC “Hearts” team.
The Gintra players, who showed commendable fighting spirit throughout the match, nevertheless failed to maintain the lead gained in the first half and had to acknowledge the superiority of their opponents with a 1:2 (1:0) result.
On Saturday, Gintra will compete for 3rd place in the qualifying tournament, which would allow them to continue fighting in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers. After the second semifinal match, it became clear that the Lithuanian champions will face Riga FC “Riga Women”. The latter lost 1:4 to the host team of the qualifying tournament, HB “Koge” from Køge.
Starting lineup: A.Herasymchuk, T.Romanovskaja (65′ min. E. M. Lwangu), M.Yancey, L.Kubiliūtė, S.Amorim, A.Mikutaitė, M.Galkina (81′ min. V.Lavreniuk), T.Brown, L.Ribeiro, A.Hakasalo (46′ min. J.Blaževičiūtė), K.Pereviznyk.
„Gintra“: M.Yancey (43′ min.) – 1.
„Hearts“: E.Dolan (56′ min.), K.Jardine (65′ min.) each 1.
The match started without much team reconnaissance and from the very first moments there were plenty of tough duels. Although the Scots controlled the ball a bit more, the Gintra players matched them physically, and in the 19th minute, captain Algimantė Mikutaitė took a dangerous shot that flew over the crossbar.
In the 29th minute, a Hearts player shook the frame of the goal defended by Alla Herasymchuk. Fortunately, the ball hit the crossbar. Just moments later, the Scots launched another dangerous attack, after which the ball again touched the crossbar, but after half an hour, the scoreboard still showed zero.
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Kristina Pereviznyk, who freed herself from the opponents’ defenders, had a good chance to score, but recently the shot of the forward was blocked by an opponent. However, before the break, the Gintra players managed to take the lead. Responding to a corner kick raised by K.Pereviznyk, the yellow-black defender Makeila Yancey headed the ball into the opponents’ net – 1:0.
After the break, Artūras Sikorskij made a substitution – Justina Blaževičiūtė came onto the field, replacing Anni Hakasalo. And at the beginning of the second half, J.Blaževičiūtė, showing exceptional speed, outran three opponents’ defenders, and only the goalkeeper saved Hearts from the second goal.
In the 56th minute, the Scots managed to capitalize on a set-piece situation, after which Ellen Dolan headed the ball into the Gintra goal and equalized the score – 1:1.
Having scored, the Scottish champions took the initiative and punished Gintra once again. In the 65th minute, Kayla Jardine put the opponents ahead – 1:2.
After conceding another goal, the Gintra players returned to the fight. Elizabeth Lwangu appeared on the field and brought activity to the attack. The Lithuanian champions fought until the last moments of the match, but they failed to score the equalizer that would have pushed the decisive events into extra time.
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