Review of the Women's A League 1st Round at "Topo centras Euronics

2024-03-18 07:30 © lff.lt

2024 season of the highest Lithuanian women's football league started with two matches over the weekend. This year, the league is named after its main sponsor "Topo centras Euronics." In the first round, the two strongest teams from last season, Šiauliai's "Gintra" and Vilnius MFA "Žalgiris"-MRU, secured victories, while the third match between Kaunas region's "Hegelmann" and Gargždai's "Bangos" was postponed to April 14.

Results of the 1st round matches:

FK Gintra 2:0 FK TransINVEST | FIFA+ match recording

MFA Žalgiris-MRU 21:0 FK Saned | FIFA+ match recording

Kickoff. The first matches of the 2024 season were played at the Gytariai Stadium, where the multiple Lithuanian champions hosted the debutant team "TransINVEST" from Vilnius region. The majority of the latter team's lineup consists of former members of the "Vilnius" team.

The first goal of the new season came in the 28th minute when 20-year-old Laura Kubiliūtė, who started her second season in the "Gintra" team, scored with a long-range shot past the goalkeeper Aušrinė Bikutė.

After a difficult start, the "Gintra" players began to enjoy the game after scoring a goal and quickly created two more good opportunities to double the lead. Once, a Vilnius defender stopped L. Kubiliūtė's shot, and another time newcomer Agnieška Kazarina missed her chance.

After the break, the game dynamics changed significantly. Then "TransINVEST" had chances to equalize the score, but they failed to capitalize on those chances.

The decisive word in the match was said by Meida Proscevičiūtė. It took the substitute forward just ten minutes to double the lead and essentially seal the game by escaping from the opponents. In the remaining time, "TransINVEST" had no chance to catch up.

Record. Over the past three years, players of Vilnius MFA "Žalgiris"-MRU often delighted their fans with victories, but none of those victories were as impressive as last Sunday's. This time, the Vilnius team scored a whopping 21 goals against "Saned" in Joniškis.

Before this match, the main Vilnius team had scored 12 goals in a single match. In the duel with "Saned," a record-breaking goal came in just 69 minutes when Ukrainian Polina Yanchuk increased the lead to 13:0.

In total, P. Yanchuk scored 5 goals, and she was not the most productive player of the match. Another newcomer to the capital's club, Moldovan Iuliana Colnic, scored an impressive 7 goals.

About the lack of suspense, Bogdan Lukashenko's proteges announced after just five minutes of play. The aforementioned P. Yanchuk then opened her and her team's goal accounts. Among the goal scorers was also goalkeeper Meda Šeškutė, who converted a penalty kick in the 54th minute.

Preview. This Sunday, the battles of the 2nd round of the "Topo centras Euronics" women's A league will take place. The central match will be played in Šiauliai, where the two strongest teams from last season will meet after securing victories last weekend. In other matches, "TransINVEST" will face "Banga" in Širvintos, while "Saned" will play against "Hegelmann" in Mažeikiai.

Photo by Lino Grikiečio / FCGintra