Las Leonas played over three hours and won in penalties under flood – 02/22/2019

Everything was ready for CeNARD to live a day of pure hockey in the field. There was a promise of a big fight between Leonie and Germany for the Pro League, but in the afternoon Buenos Aires had an unexpected actor who ended up stealing the headlight: the weather. A strong electric storm was forced to suspend in three occasions the meeting between the third quarter and a torrential rain forced a new stop in the latter partial. The final result, a 2-2 draw that the Argentines broke in penalties (4-3), ended up being almost an anecdote in an unusual game that lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Under a cloudy sky and with great heat, the duel between Leonions, the fourth in the world rankings, and the German, which are in fifth place, began. What led Carlos Retegui started better and after three minutes Delfina Merino scored 1-0 for the locals.

As the minutes passed, the sky shone more and more frequently with a threatening lightning. And at the beginning of the third quarter, the first suspension was reached. The FIH explained that when, between the moment you see the lightning and you hear thunder taking less than 20 seconds, the regulation says we have to suspend the game for security.

Almost 20 minutes later, the action continued and Germany returned better. There was time for five minutes of play and two goals in two minutes – in 7 and 9 minutes – that put the European ahead, before a new stop.

On that occasion, the break fell better to the Argentines, who after the return to court equalized the game. In 13 minutes in the third quarter, in a new short, Rosario Luchetti deflection shot Silvina D'Elía and scored 2-2.

There were 55 seconds until the end of the third quarter and again the order to stop the action. The rage and disappointment of the players was evident and the Argentine bank broke into protests. Silently, because we had to wait. Finally, electrical activity decreased and the bowl started to run again. At least for a while.

The third set was just closed and 5μ23 of the quarter played when the rain arrived. And with such intensity, in a matter of minutes the court is filled with water and the watch again stopped.

On the return, with the synthetic still very wet, the score did not move. And Argentina managed to impose Australian penalties on getting two points and closing a feast for a match that seemed eternal.

HS