A late Austria winner in Glasgow along with strong wins from Ukraine, Poland and France in Douai has seen the semi-final line-ups confirmed for the women’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifiers.
** Picture: Poland celebrate a goal in Douai. Credit: Cedric Martin/France Hockey
Women’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifier A (Glasgow, Scotland)
Marianne Pultar’s 52nd minute goal earned Austria a crucial 1-0 victory over Lithuania to send them through to a final four date with Scotland on Saturday.
Her rasping low strike from the Red Foxes’ 10th penalty corner eventually broke through the Lithuanian defences for a narrow win. They spent a huge amount of time in control of the ball but found their opposition a tough nut to crack.
Austria’s reward is a Saturday semi-final with hosts Scotland.
Wales had earlier opened the competition with an impressive 7-0 win over Croatia. Betsan Thomas set them on their way in the ninth minute and they were three up by half-time with Freya Diamond and Holly Munro on the mark.
Four goals in quick succession in the third quarter saw them race clear for their victory and a Saturday semi-final showdown with Czechia.
Friday features one game with Croatia coming up against Lithuania with the winner earning a ticket to next year’s EuroHockey Championship II with the loser going to Championship III.
Today’s Results
| Time | Teams | Title | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:15 | Wales v Croatia | QF2 (M1) | 7 – 0 |
| 18:30 | Austria v Lithuania | QF3 (M2) | 1 – 0 |
Friday fixture
| 18:30 | Croatia v Lithuania | 5th/6th Place | – |
Women’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifier B (Douai, France)
Poland started off the competition with an impressive 5-1 win over Türkiye. Amelia Katerla put them 1-0 with a close range rebound and Bianca Strubbe swooped to add another from a corner second phase.
Karolina Diurczak extended the lead in the second half to 3-0 before the Turks got a lifeline from Tuğçe Şahiner’s corner goal. Magdalena Pabiniak and Natasza Suszynska, however, made the comeback shortlived and they advance to the semi-final where they will meet Italy.
The other half of the draw saw Ukraine and France advance to the next phase. Karyna Leonova gave the former a first quarter lead with a nice tip-in to a left-wing cross and it was 2-0 from Valeriia Zaitseva’s corner.
Sofie Stomps pulled one back from a set piece drag-flick; 2-1 at half-time. But Ukraine capitalised from an error with 20 minutes to go for a crucial goal from Veronika Movchan.
Leonova dove onto another chance to add an extra insurance goal in the final quarter for 4-1.
France won the final game of the day 22-0 against Luxembourg who were playing in their first senior international women’s game. There were four goals each from Paola Le Nindre and Yohanna Lhopital.
| Time | Teams | Title | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:00 | Poland v Türkiye | QF2 | 5 – 1 |
| 15:15 | Ukraine v Switzerland | QF3 | 4 – 1 |
| 17:30 | France v Luxembourg | QF4 | 22 – 0 |
Friday schedule
| 17:30 | Luxembourg v Switzerland | 5th-7th Place | – |
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