The Estepona team, which still will not have all of its first team players for various reasons, will be reinforced – as has happened since the first training session – with players from the quarry, who are in the day-to-day life of the LF Challenge squad. The team travels to face a regular preseason rival against whom they have not played this year and who, like CAB Estepona Jardín from the Costa del Sol, arrives after winning the regional cup organized by their federation.
Historic debut of Unicaja Mijas in Zamora
For its part, Francis Trujillo’s Unicaja Mijas begins its journey in this category for the first time in its history this Saturday, September 30 on the Recoletas Zamora track (5:00 p.m.). A very special meeting for the young squad coached this season by Francis Trujillo, whose players will make their full debut in the competition after achieving promotion last April.
The Malaga players face the challenge with great continuity of the players who made history in the club the previous year, with a determined commitment to the youth team. Only captain Salomé García, who is facing her fourth season in Málaga, and the 3 additions this year (American power forward Akilah Bethel, Polish forward Wiktoria Keller and guard Clara Cáceres) have not come out of the lower categories.
The debut will come on a complicated field, that of Recoletas Zamora, a team established in the category that the previous season was in 4th position, one step away from achieving promotion to the Endesa Women’s League. In fact, the Castilians finished the regular league in 2nd place, with a record of 23 wins and 7 losses, falling in the semifinals of the Playoff against La Cordá de Paterna NB.
Francis Trujillo Before starting the season, he assessed the state of his team, debutant in the category. «I think we arrived in good physical condition and knowing each other, prepared to face the first day with great enthusiasm», the technician has indicated. On what conclusions he draws after the preseason, in which they have competed against teams already established in the Liga Femeninca Challenge such as CAB Estepona and Melilla Sport Capital La Salle: «When you arrive at a new competition, the first thing is to see where you are. We all have that expectation a bit, we are new here and we want to see what level we are at. If we are at our peak, we can compete in this league and we will be able to win games,” he said.