Vipers lost 28–29 away to Storhamar in the series opener in the Norwegian women’s handball series. It was the first loss against a Norwegian team since February 2020, when Storhamar last beat them. After that, Vipers have played 125 games against Norwegian teams without losing. – Storhamar is putting up a good fight. We slop too much, and then Storhamar punishes us. I hate to lose. But we do something good, so we can take that with us, says Jamina Roberts to TV 2 after the match. Katrine Lunde says the start of the series was not what they had hoped for. – Today we don’t have quite the day. But it’s nice to know that you have four players at home who will be ready for the next match, says Lunde to the TV channel. Weakened for the big game The goalkeeper is thinking of Nina Koppang, Carin Strömberg, Marta Tomac and Jana Knedlikova who, for various reasons, were not part of the series opener. Newcomer Strömberg, who was presented on Friday, was not ready, according to TV 2’s commentator, because the papers surrounding the transfer were not approved in time for the start of the series. Koppang, who has been given the responsibility of replacing Russian Anna Vjakhireva who was sold to Brest, had fallen ill before the weekend. Before the match, several believed that Storhamar had a good opportunity to inflict the Vipers with their first loss against Norwegian opposition in four and a half years. – This means everything. We have worked so hard, prepared well and done everything right. It finally paid off, said Storhamar’s Anniken Obaidli to TV 2. Financial problems Vipers have struggled with financial challenges. This summer it became clear that the club needs three and a half million kroner to avoid bankruptcy before the new year, and a further one and a half million before the end of February. Vilde Jonassen has been at the club since 2015. She calls the financial problems “the elephant in the room”. – I try to think that we are not affected by it, but it is a bit behind, like an elephant in the room. But when we’re on the pitch, we focus on that. We players can’t do anything other than perform sportingly, so that’s what we focus on, says Jonassen. Vilde Jonassen is the player who has been in Vipers the longest. She has faith that the champion team will fight back. Here together with Spanish Paula Arcos at an earlier training session. Photo: Kjetil Samuelsen / news – Needs time The veteran believes this year’s Vipers stable is both good enough and wide enough. The winger believes the champions will fight back. – We have been playing together for two weeks. We have had many who have been out in the Olympics. But we need a little more time to build up this good team that we have now. But the Vipers don’t have much time. Already next weekend, they play their first match in the Champions League, away to French Brest. Shock opening The home team opened clearly best in Hamar. After ten minutes, they led last year’s silver team in the Norwegian series 5–2 over the superb Vipers. But the Vipers hit back and three minutes later it was 5-5. The teams followed each other throughout the half, before the pink jerseys went into a three-goal lead. Five minutes before the break, the visitors led 12-9. But Storhamar showed muscle in the final minutes of the half, and a goal just before the half-time signal secured 14-14 at the break. Storhamar held on completely Storhamar continued to be one or two goals out in the second half. Nine minutes before the end, however, they went up 26-23. Three minutes before the end, Jamina Roberts made it 26-28 with her eighth goal of the game. Soon after, newcomer Mia Emmenegger could have put the Vipers one goal behind, but she missed. This allowed Storhamar to go up to 29-26 with just over two minutes remaining. But the Vipers hadn’t given up. First Silje Waade reduced, then Mia Emmenegger. With 17 seconds left, the Vipers were only one goal behind. But Storhamar kept his composure and was able to cheer for victory. Admittedly, the secretariat broke in, and wanted the referees to see a possible attack error from Storhamar on video. That could have given the Vipers a free throw and an opportunity to secure a draw. But the judges saw nothing wrong, and the sensational victory was a fact. Published 31.08.2024, at 18.19 Updated 31.08.2024, at 21.13
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