Second last day in Trencin and games were more and more exciting. Today’s winners were Latvia, Finland and Slovakia. We also witnessed the first draw in Trencin and points were divided between Spain and Austria.
First game was expected to be tight and that was definitely true. Austria took the lead right in the beginning and both of their goals in the first period were scored by Melanie Bernert. Someone could have thought that the game was over for Spain, when the numbers were 2-5 in the beginning of the second period. But what happened? Spain’s Paula Arenal Beltran decided that this is not good enough and went on to socre three goals in the last period. This secured Spain a draw against Austria and both teams got their first point in the qualifications. Best player from Spain was Nieves Ballesteros Suarez and Livia Muggler from Austria. Spain also played their last game today and #12 Paula Arenal Beltran was chosen as the team’s MVP.
In the second match, Latvia did not leave the Netherlands any chance to win. The numbers were already 5-1 after the first 20 minutes, and those kept increasing until the end. In the second period, Netherlands was better prepared but third period was all Latvia’s. Especially Latvia’s Paula Metala was efficient today, scoring three goals. She was also awarded the best player of the match. From the Netherlands, the best player was Kike Wolters who scored her first Women’s WFCQ goal in the game.
Third match was played between Russia and Finland. Finland was expected to be tough, but the first period only ended 2-1 for them. Second period was then filled with Finland’s goal celebrations. In total they scored 13 goals in that period, and game was over. Russia could not find ways to stop them and final score 18-1 for Finland. Best players were Mariia Basargina (RUS) and Oona Kauppi (4+0) from Finland.
Slovakia owned the arena in the last game and as expected, the attendance numbers increased for the evening. The game really started after 20 minutes, when Slovakia took control and increased their lead by 5 goals. Hungary scored their only goal from the penalty shot and Slovakia celebrated their 12-1 win over Hungary. Best players were Kristina Hudakova (SVK) and the goal scorer Dora Szalai (HUN).
The last games of European WFC Qualifications will be played tomorrow! Follow the matches on IFF YouTube Channel 1 and find photos from IFF Flickr.
Match schedule and statistics can be found HERE
