Day 2 of the Women´s U19 World Championships 2018 Qualification was played today in Linz, Austria, with two matches deciding which teams will still be in the race to qualify to the final round in St. Gallen/Herisau, Switzerland 2-6.5.2017. Team Russia has with the results today qualified for the final round.

RUSSIA – NETHERLANDS

The two winners from the first day was first out day 2. The match started very even but mostly with the ball in Russian possession and the result 2-1 after the first period was fair.
Not much space was given by the teams in the beginning of the second period but a few minutes of Russian efficiency gave them three goals before team Netherlands could score their 2nd.
Team Russia continued to have the ball but too often tried to pass through the Dutch compact defence and although the team won also the 3rd period and the match there are a lot of things to work with for the team now when they have qualified to the final round. The final result was 8-4.

Match statistics can be found here.

AUSTRIA – ITALY

Having lost their matches yesterday both teams were in need of at least a draw to still be in the race for a ticket to Switzerland.
Team Austria started more determined than Italy and went to a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes. Italy came back and evened the game and scored their first goal before Austria scored their 3rd in the end of the period.
Austria kept the control in the 2nd period but didn´t produce so many clear chances to score and were not very efficient when the chances came. The period ended 1-1.
The last period saw the same pattern, Austria couldn´t take advantage of their grip but scored one more goal to win with 5-2. The victory gives them a direct decisive match versus Netherlands tomorrow, in the last match of the qualification.

Match statistics can be found here.