CSU Suceava proved this year as well that it is the strongest youth handball center in Romania. After the silver medals won at junior I level, the Sucevians became national youth champions. For their part, the other junior teams of CSU Suceava have qualified or are very close to qualifying for the final tournaments.
CSU Suceava had a perfect course at the Final 8 Tournament: 37-27 with CSM Vaslui in the quarters, 28-22 with CSM Focșani in the semifinals and 32-28 with Cluj University in the final.
In addition to the big trophy, CSU Suceava also won five individual awards. Iulian Roșu was named the best left winger, Alexandru Reuț the best left winger, Alexandru Focșăneanu the best pivot, Codrin Radu the best right winger, and Andrei Bruj the best defender.
CSU Suceava: Dragoș Podovei, Răzvan Rîpa, Ștefan Leonte – Alexandru Reuț, Iulian Roșu, Codrin Radu, Sorin Grigore, Alexandru Focșăneanu, Emanuel Șerban, Andrei Rață, Andrei Bruj, Codrin Dascălu, Eduard Rusu, Bogdan Niculaie, Teodor Iluca, Teodor Moșneagu. Coach: Vasile Boca. Physiotherapist: Mihai Vornicu.
“It was a near perfect 2023-2024 season for us with 35 wins in 36 games. As every year, we went on the road with the same objectives: promoting our juniors to the senior team and the national teams, as well as getting the best possible places at the final tournaments. We knew that an extremely demanding period was ahead for us, but we were very motivated and set out to win the titles in both categories, Juniors I and Youth.
At Juniors I we had a perfect season, the boys made a lot of progress and we played handball that was very pleasing to the eye. We were the fittest and most spectacular team at the Final Tournament. Unfortunately, maybe because of too much safety, we missed a lot in the final, most of the time from clear one-on-one situations with the opposing goalkeeper, we defended rather inaccurately and could not take advantage of the moment in which I returned to leading the game. It was not at all easy to get over that failure, we suffered enormously and still <>.
But it was clear that the only chance to have a good youth tournament was to pick ourselves up, move forward and learn from last week’s mistakes. I want to congratulate the boys and thank them from the bottom of my heart for the way they fought, in conditions where for most of them it was their 8th game in 9 days. We can say that the level of the Youth Final Tournament was much higher than that of the Juniors I, with many players present who are developing or even are basic players of the National League teams. There were balanced and highly contested games, each team wanting the best possible evolution and ranking. We fully deserved this title, because we played the best handball, but we also wanted to prove that what happened at Juniors I was an accident from which we learned lessons for the future,” said coach Vasile Boca.
