Widyawilis Selamat secured an important victory for Singapore
Singapore won the thrilling match against Australia 2-1, although Australia had a lot opportunities to equalize during the last minutes.
Both Australia and Singapore played disciplined defensive play and an uncommon floorball result, 0 – 0, after the first period.
Singapore´s Mei Wei Ng scored the first goal after a terrible mistake by the Aussie defence, but before the end of the 2nd period Jemima Kanerva evened the score on power play to 1-1.
The tempo was higher in the third period and especially Australia had some good scoring chances, one shot hitting the bar. Then another mistake was made by the Aussie defence, which led to a penalty shot and Jill Quek could calmly put the ball to the net and Singapore to the lead again.
The Australians had a number of good chances during the final minutes and the shots on goal were 13 to 3 for Australia, but the Singaporean goalie, Widyawilis “Wid” Selamat, (pictured) played a great match.
The best Aussie chance “Wid” could somehow save with her last moment stretching as she reached for the ball that was gliding towards the empty net. “Wid” was of course very happy after the victory:
– I was really nervous before the match and in the beginning since I really wanted to help my team to win.
What do you think made the difference today?
– We got together during the period breaks and decided that we were going to win together as a team and not just concentrate on scoring, but do everything it takes to take the victory.
– Our aim is to win the group and play in the semi-finals. It would be really exciting to meet Hungary, who we played a draw against in 2005. They also have a really good goalie, Szilvia Sári.
Finland could win Denmark despite a difficult start
Finland defeated Denmark with 6-1.
Sara Lund did an excellent job in the Danish goal and made the match difficult for the Finns. The score was only 1-0 to Finland after the first period. The Finns had many good scoring opportunities, but just could not get the ball passed Lund.
During the second half of the match Finland was more efficient and could win the match with five goals.
– These kinds of matches always become difficult if you can not get goals, but our concentration lasted for 60 minutes and there was no question about the winner, the Finnish coach Jari Oksanen says in Salibandyliiga´s interview.
– We had 99 scoring opportunities according to our scoring chart, but the opponents blocked the shots well and the Danish goalie was the best player of the team.
Lund made 55 saves today and was awarded as best player in the Danish team. Elina Kujala gathered 1+1 and was elected as best player in the Finnish team.
Five goals for Rüttimann – third victory for Switzerland
The underdog Russia kept the numbers low against Switzerland for two periods. The match was settled in the third period and with the result 8-0 Switzerland took their third victory in the tournament.
The Swiss team was able to produce good scoring chances, but Nadezda Lapina in the Russian goal took some important saves. The score after two periods was 4-0, but in the third period Corin Rüttimann (pictured) stepped up by scoring four goals in a row and the match was over.
Rüttimann, who scored a total of five goals in the match, had a positive feeling after the match.
– “I think this match was a good preparation for our team for tomorrows match against Finland. It was fun to play.”
What do you think about your own performance in the match?
– “Of course it was nice feeling to succeed and score five goals. However, I think I can play better, this was not my best performance.”
The 17-years old Rüttimann played also in the Womens U19 WFC last year. Now she is playing her first adult World Championships. – “I think that the level is higher here. Also the team is older so we are treated more like adults.”
With three victories, it looks like Switzerland is advancing to the semi-finals.
– “I would like to play against a strong team in the semi-finals. It does not matter which team, but I would like the matches to get better as the tournament progresses.”
Rüttimann was awarded as the best player.
Nine goals secured victory for Netherlands
The B-division match between Netherlands and Italy was decided already in the first minutes. The Netherlands got a rocket start for the match and scored three goals already before three minutes played.
The tempo of the match was relatively slow, since the teams fore-checked passively. Netherlands was however able to create better scoring positions and in the end took the points quite easily with 9-2. The most effective players of the match were Faybienne Kollau and Annemiek Stegehuis who both scored a hat trick.
Norway and Latvia tied the game
Three penalty shots were seen in the Norway – Latvia match, which ended in a draw 2-2.
Two missed penalty shots, one for Latvia and one for Norway, in the first period until Tatjana Varsa scored the first goal during power play. The third penalty shot of the match was seen in the second period, Lisbeth Pettersen missed, but was able to break free only two minutes later and score the equalizer.
The game was very tight and entertaining. Siri Havre took Norway to the lead for the first time in the 2nd period, but Bankava´s second evened the score to 2-2, which was also the final result.
Tone Einstulen and Gunita Karklina were elected as best players
Norway´s Lisbeth Pettersen was not that happy about the tie.
– I am a bit disappointed about the result since I hoped that we would win. I tried to work hard and did quite ok, but this was not my best game, I scored one goal but missed the penalty shot.
Norway´s next game against Czech Republic will be an important match.
– We have to be patient and try to utilize the opponent´s mistakes through successful counter attacks.
Norway and Czech Republic will play tomorrow at 16:30
Anikó Vágó´s three early goals helped Hungary sink Canada
Hungary crushed Canada with 12-0. Hungary was the favourite team against Canada and especially Anikó Vágó in the Hungarian offence proved to be a real goal hunter with an excellent shot. She scored three goals already in the first period and put in one more before the end of the match. Brigitta Radácsi also collected 3+2.
Canada did a quite good job in the defence in the start, but did not really have any offensive weapons and as the Canadians could not stay out of the box Hungary won with big numbers. Hungary is now leading the group D.
The B-division match Hungary-Estonia at 10:00 CET will be an important one and also the match at 12:45, Canada-Japan, can be interesting.
Sweden´s 3rd victory after an even start against Czech Republic
The top match of group A was played between Sweden and Czech Republic. The match started evenly, but as the match progressed, Sweden took more control and in the end won with 6-1.
Czech Republic started the match fearlessly. Both teams were able to produce good scoring opportunities in the first period. The first goal was surprisingly shot by Hanka Konícková after a free hit and for the first time in the tournament Sweden was chasing an opponent. Jana Christianova in the Czech goal made many impressive saves in the first period and helped her team to stay in the match.
Sweden´s equalizer as well as the 2-1 lead were shot after long diagonal passes to the player left open at the far post.
The first period was even, but in the second period Sweden took more control of the match. The Czech team had difficulities to get the ball into the best scoring sector. Sweden took a 3-1 lead, when Emelie Lindström served, and Hermine Dahlerus could place the ball in the net.
In the beginning of the third period the Czech team had a good chance to reduce the lead, when Eliska Krízová broke free, but Hanna Pettersson stopped the goal attempt. The match was settled a few minutes afterwards, when Victoria Wikström scored the 4th goal to Sweden with a hard and accurate shot.
– We didn´t start the match with the same drive as previously in the tournament, but we tried to get control of the ball in another way. The further the match progressed the more we gave pressure and when we press high we are really hard to beat, the Swedish match coach, Martin Olofsson said in innebandy.se´s interview.
Germany´s 2nd victory – first goal for team Japan
The last B-division match was played between Germany and Japan. Germany controlled the ball already in the first period, but was able to score only once. The match was decided in the second period, when Germany scored three times and increased the lead to 4-0.
In the end of the third period, Japan was able to score their first goal in the tournament, when Eriko Sugimo succeeded during a power play.
The final score of the match was 7-1 and Germany had a wide range of scorers as all goals were shot by the different players. The best players were Japanese goalie Chika Sato and Lisa Merle Entelmann from Germany.
