In the match for 13th place it was Austria that scored the first goal, but after that only Italy scored, who won the game 5:1 and finished the WFC in 13th place! The Italians had a slow start to the tournament losing to Hungary 12-8 and to New Zealand 6-3. They grew as a team throughout the tournament and finished the group stages with a 5-3 win over Canada. That was the first time the Italian Women’s U19 team had won a match at a Floorball World Championships event. Building on that win they went into their contest against Austria with renewed confidence and came out on top with strong offensive production on show from the Italian top line who were involved on every goal. Their top line included sisters Daria Leu and Elena Leu!

A great team performance overall from the Italians!

Austria ended the tournament on a low note with the 1-5 loss to Italy. They came in to this tournament in unusual circumstances as Singapore pulled out with less than a month to go. Austria stepped in at short notice and didn’t have time for much of a training camp or establishing a proper squad. Thankfully they were competing in a club tournament at the time of Singapore’s withdrawal and were therefore able to respond in short time. Austria started the tournament with a 6-0 loss against Denmark, then losing to a talented Latvian side by 15 goals to 2. Their last group game was a close affair against Australia but with 20 seconds to go Silvia Hoffmann scored for Austria to take their first win of the tournament! Austria faced Italy for 13th and started well but the high powered Italian top line was too strong and it resulted in a 5-1 loss and 14th place for Austria. A great achievement nonetheless considering how much preparation they had missed out on, as late replacements.