The reigning champion outplayed their opponent in the semi-final. Finland did not manage to challenge the Swedes, who were stronger both physically and technically and won the match with 10-4.
Sweden will meet either Poland or Switzerland in tomorrow´s final starting at 15:00 CET in the Wolsztyn arena. Finland will play in the bronze match starting at 12:00 CET.
Sweden took the command right from the start. Five different goal scorers put Sweden to a 5-0 lead until Juuli Hakkarainen scored team Finland´s first on power play. The few attacks that the Finns had were counter attacks, as Sweden was the team keeping the ball in their possession.
In the second period the Finns got better into the game, but still Sweden was the team keeping the command. The Finnish goalkeeper Anni-Maija Seppänen did some brilliant saves, and kept the numbers reasonable although the shots were 54-26 to team Sweden. The Swedes however increased their lead steadily and the final numbers were 10-4 for Sweden.
All in all there were eight different Swedish players scoring goals and 13 different players collecting points in the match, which is one of the strengths in the Swedish team. Emelie Wibron with 2+0 was awarded as best player in the Swedish team and Hanna-Mari Uimonen, who scored one goal, was awarded best player of Finland.
The bright spot of the tournament, the home team Poland, started excellently in front of the 480 spectators in Babimost by scoring the two first goals of the match. Then the Swiss team added more speed into their game and proved to be a tough team to beat in these championships. The final score was 11-3.
Switzerland and Sweden will play in the final and Poland will meet Finland in the bronze match.
The Polish team started splendidly and gave their supporters a reason to celebrate as Agnieszka Matfin and Natalia Witak scored two identical goals after shooting precise shots up in the Swiss net.
The Swiss were quite passive in the beginning, but after Sandra Frank´s first goal they recovered from Poland´s shock start, added speed into their game and then Poland had problems in keeping up with the pace.
The Swiss team´s direction changes were of high class again and especially the formation with Seraina Ulber, Corin Ruttimann and Rahel Kaltenrieder played nicely together. Seraina Ulber collected 2+2 and Rahel Kaltenrieder 2+1. Kaltenrieder was also awarded as best player of the game. It will be really interesting to see how these girls can fight against the reigning champion in tomorrow´s final.
