Slovakia and Russia played in the B-division final for the 9th place and for a place in the A-division in 2010. Slovakia proved to be the best team in the B-division by winning all their matches. The result in the B-final was 7-1.
At the same time Latvia and Germany played for the 7th place and for staying in the A-division. This match was very tight and only settled within the last 30 seconds when Latvia scored the decisive 3-2 goal.
The Slovakians, who defeated Russia in both B-division group matches in Zbaszyn, started by scoring the first goals when Jana Kapinova and Zuzana Stredanska took Slovakia into an early 2-0 lead.
Team Slovakia was the better team in every part of the game and when Maria Stancekova also played brilliantly in the goal the Slovakian had no problems in winning the B-final with 7-1. Slovakia´s Lucia Kosturiakova with 9+18 scored most points in the B-division.
Floorball in Slovakia has improved a lot during the last years. The Slovakian men´s team just won the C-division and now the Under 19 women climbed up one position from 2006 and will surely be a team to look out for in the WU19 WFC A-division 2010, which will be played in the Czech Republic.
The match statistics are found here
Latvia settled the match with a last minute goal
Germany started more aggressively than in the previous games and the chosen tactic worked in the beginning as the Germans fore checked the ball and Judith Burmester scored the first goal for Germany. In 10.20 Dzeina Eglite equalised the score and after a miss by the German goalie, Elina Ivanova put Latvia in the lead for the first time.
The game continued to be tight and as Latvia, one of the most penalized team in these championships, took yet another bench penalty Frederike Scholz utilized the situation and the game was 2-2.
Even more trouble for Latvia in the third period when Madara Rudzite got a 5 minutes penalty. The Germans did however not manage to get their power play to work and missed their opportunity. In 59.32 Mara Stapkevica scored a nice shot from a small angle and secured Latvia´s third 7th place in a row and a place in the A-division 2010. Germany was relegated to the B-division in 2010.
Pictures: Mika Hilska/FFF
