After two losses, Slovakia got their first win in the World Cup. The team took the lead through Klara Grossova who made it 1-0 after just under two minutes, a lead that held the match through.

Germany fought well in the first period, but when the pause came, Slovakia had a 3-0 lead. The last goal of the period was scored by the teams big star, Michaela Sponiarova.

The second period continued like the first ended. Despite a big-playing Noora Holle in Germany goal, Slovakia also won the second period with the numbers three against nil, which gave the overall result 6-0 after two periods.

In the third period, Germany was awarded a penalty and got a golden opportunity to score their first goal of the tournament. But a quick and agile Jana Dupcakova stopped Germany’s penalty shooter. After the missed penalty, Germany continued to chase their first goal of the tournament. The team created several good chances, but in the end Slovakia won the match 6-0.

Germany’s goalkeeper, 19-year-old Noora Holle, was quite happy with the team’s effort in the match despite the loss.

– It was a hard match, but I think we were very close. We could play with them, in the end we just didn’t score the goals,Holle says.

In the post-match interview, Slovakia forward Michaela Sponiarova told what the team needs to do to succeed in the playoffs.

– We need to be more effective and need to score more goals and we need to be self-confidence with the ball, Sponiarova concludes.

MVP Slovakia: Radka Mladenkova

MVP Germany: Theresa Beppler-Alt