9th May
Switzerland, Finland and Poland in the semi-finals
A real thriller settled the other semi-final team from group A as the home team Poland and Czech Republic played in front of 370 spectators in the Babimost arena. Poland delighted the home crowd and won the spectacular match with 5-4.
Switzerland won the last match versus Norway and as winner of the B group the Swiss will play their semi-final match tomorrow against Poland in Babimost at 19:00 CET. Sweden and Finland will play in the other semi-final match starting at 16:00.
Switzerland continued to perform well in the match versus Norway, which the Norwegians
would have needed to win with at least four goals to be playing in the semis.
Team Norway started the game nervously. The Norwegian defense struggled in front of the own goal, which lead to the first goal for Switzerland after only 31 seconds.
The Swiss team´s counter attacks were effective today as well; the score was 4-0 before Norway scored their first goal and Switzerland had no problems in winning their final group match with clear numbers 11-3. Simone Wyss with 3+1 was awarded as best player of the Swiss team.
Poland and Czech Republic met in a thriller
The home team Poland fought hard against the Czechs and although the Czech team was leading with 2-0 after five minutes, the Polish team with the support of their home crowd managed to equal the score in the beginning of the second period to 2-2.
After 25 minutes Kinga Bugajska surprised the Czech team by putting the Polish into the lead for the first time and the Czechs started to look nervous.
Hanka Konickova evened the score just before the end of the first period but then Wioletta Bialon scored her second of the evening and Poland was in the lead again. Poland even lead with two goals after a successful power play, but with five minutes left the Czechs reduced the Polish lead to 4-5. The home team managed to hold on to their lead and created the biggest surprise so far in the tournament by defeating Czech Republic and making it to the semi-finals.
The WU19 WFC 2008 is the second time that a Polish WU19 team participates in the World Championships. In 2006 the Polish team was 5th and lost to Czech Republic 1-7 in the group match.
Slovakia or Russia promoted to the A-division 2010
Loud supporters were also found in the Zbaszyn arena as both teams, Georgia and Slovakia, had a lot of supporters cheering for them during the game.
Slovakia won their last group match easily 34-1 versus the Georgians and continues without any losses.
Slovakia and Russia will play an exciting the B-division final tomorrow in Wolsztyn starting at 13:00 CET.
The winner of the B-division final, Russia or Slovakia, will be promoted to the A-division in 2010.
Sweden without any losses to the semi-final
The reigning champion crushed Germany with 22-0 and continues to the semi-finals with three straight victories. Sweden´s semi-final opponent will most likely be Finland as the Finns defeated the Latvians with 6-1.
Georgia lost to Russia 2-20, but made Georgian history by scoring their first ever WU19 goals.
Sweden settled the match on a quite early stage as they scored four goals within three and a half minutes after nine minutes of play. All in all four players from the Swedish team, Ranja Varli (3+4), Emelie Wibron (3+0), Malin Eriksson (3+1) and Nina Bäckman (3+2), scored hat tricks in today´s match against Germany.
Sweden will play their semi-final in Babimost tomorrow at 16:00 CET. Germany will meet Latvia in the match for 7th place and for staying in the A division for 2010.
The Finns seem to be going to the semis
Finland had no problems in winning over Latvia today as the game was already 6-0 before Latvia scored their first and only goal. The Finns will still have to wait for the result of the game between Switzerland and Norway. Norway would have to win with at least four goals to kick Finland out of the semi-finals.
Team Georgia celebrated
Georgia celebrated their first ever WU19 championship goals in the game versus Russia today and although they lost the game 2-20 the Georgian players were extremely happy about their two goals. Shorena Kvirikadze was the lucky player who scored the historical goal and she was also awarded best player of team Georgia.
8th May
Switzerland leading the B group
The favourites Switzerland and Czech Republic could win their matches today although both Latvia and Germany were tough opponents for over 30 minutes.
Slovakia and Russia played a tight match in the B-division, which finally was won by the Slovakians 7-5.
Czech Republic was the active team in the evening match in Babimost arena. Germany did however a good job in defending their own zone. As the Czechs did not get into the best scoring sector they shot from further distance and in 14.20 Dagmar Sura surprised the German goalie with a nice shot.
Germany continued to play a diciplined dice five formation, which was hard to break. The chosen tactic seemed to work when Judith Burmester evened the score after a nicely executed free-hit. Then the Czechs got a hang of their passing play and the quick passes led to good scoring opportunities and three precise shots put the Czechs to a safe 4-1 lead. The final score was 5-1 for the Czechs.
The fastest goal of the championships was shot by Alexandra Frick as she scored the first Swiss goal versus Latvia only after eight seconds. Although Switzerland started well the Latvians managed to get back into the match and the score was surprisingly 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Seraina Ulber scored the winning goal in the middle of the second period and after that the Swiss did not let Latvia into the game anymore and the final numbers were 8-2 to Switzerland. Seraina Ulber with 2+2 was also awarded best player of team Switzerland.
Sweden leading the A group in WU19 WFC
Sweden won over Poland 16-3 and the Swedes are making their way into the semi-finals played on Saturday. Also the other favourite Finland improved their game and defeated Norway with 7-2.
Sweden started the match by pressuring the Polish defenders with two players. The aggressive fore checking paid off as the Polish had tremendous difficulties in opening their game. The first goal for team Sweden went quite easily past the Polish goalkeeper, but the second goal scored by Anna Wijk was a demonstration of brilliant ball handling skills.
The difference in the playing level between the two teams was evident, but Poland also has some very skilful players. Wioletta Bialon was one of the best Polish players and she created some very good opportunities for her team. Sweden was however already leading with 8-0 when Poland scored their first goal, and the Swedes had no problems in taking home the victory. Anna Wijk gathered the most points today with 3+3 and was also the best player of team Sweden. Wioletta Bialon was awarded best player of the Polish team.
First victory for team Finland
The Finnish team had recovered from yesterday´s disappointing loss and did not let Norway surprise them today. Sanna Roisko was showing her team the way by scoring a hat trick and securing the first victory for her team in these championships. Roisko was also awarded as best player from team Finland. The Norwegian goalkeeper, Brigitte Berg, was awarded as the best player of her team.
Slovakia outplayed the Georgians with 26-0.
7th May
Poland and Norway won their 1st WU19 matches
Norway won their first match versus Latvia with 4-2 and also the home team played well in front of their supporters and won against Germany with 7-0. In the second B-division match the WU19 newcomer Georgia met Russia. The Russians had no problem in taking their first victory in the tournament as they crushed the Georgians with 27-0.
The home team, Poland, started the tournament strong and scored two goals versus Germany during the first two minutes of the match. Martyna Rzepa increased the Polish lead in the second period to 3-1.
Team Poland´s Marta Stachowiak scored her second and third goal of the match in the third period and was one of the key players today, ensuring the 7-0 victory for Poland. There were 310 spectators following the match in the Babimost arena.
Norway defeated Latvia
The 5th and 6th ranked teams Norway and Latvia met in the evening match. Latvia´s Agnese Akmenlauka took her team to an early lead, but only two minutes later Norway´s Maria Skarsmo put in the equaliser for team Norway. After this Norway increased their lead to a safe looking 4-1 lead, which was the score after 40 minutes.
As team Latvia sat 6 minutes in the beginning of the third period on the penalty bench, it did not help their situation. Norway did however not get their power play game going and the score remained unchanged. In 53.52 Indra Bekere scored the second goal for Latvia, but this was as close as the Latvian team could get; 4-2 for Norway.
Switzerland and Sweden victorious in WU19 WFC
Switzerland and Sweden won their first matches in the tournament. Switzerland with clear numbers 8-1 against Finland and Sweden after a tough match versus Czech Republic 8-6. In the first B-division match Slovakia defeated Russia with 7-2.
The Swiss team had great speed in their game tonight and got into many good counter attack opportunities, which they also executed brilliantly, and two beautiful shots went past the Finnish goalkeeper in the first period.
Switzerland continued to be the team with more speed in both the passing game and the running game and Rahel Kaltenrieder and Corin Ruttimann increased their lead already to 4-0 until Ella Alanko scored the first for Finland. As Corin Ruttimann scored her second of the game, the score was 5-1 after 40 minutes.
The Finns did not get their game going at all tonight and Switzerland really outplayed their opponent. When Margrit Scheidegger scored a hat trick the final numbers were 8-1 to Switzerland.
Sweden and Czech Republic in a tight battle
In the other top match of today, the reigning champion Sweden, had quite a hard time against the Czech team. The score was 1-1 and 2-2 in the first period, until Sweden got into a three goal lead 5-2, which was the score after 20 minutes.
The match continued to be tight as the Czech team chased the Swedes. The Czechs got as close as 6-7 after 51 minutes, but then Nina Bäckman settled the match for Sweden and the final score was 8-6 to Sweden.
Pictures: Mika Hilska/FFF
