Women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship (Valencia, Spain) – Pool B round-up

Belgium and Germany’s Under-21 women both produced the goods to reach the semi-finals in Valencia as they ran up strong wins over Ireland and Wales, respectively.

For both a victory would confirm their progression and they went about matters on the front foot.

The young red panthers were 3-0 winners, largely controlling the first phase of their game against the Irish and they took the lead via Lisl Denef’s first time finish from a right-wing cross.

The junior green army stayed in contention until Q3 but a sublime diagonal pass was matched in quality by the reverse-stick finish from Louise Van Hecke to make it 2-0.

Agathe Favart then continued her goal-a-game run for Belgium’s Under-21s – 11 in 11 matches now – from a penalty corner slider from the top of the circle.

Germany were 7-0 victors over the Welsh although they did find it hard to break their opponents down for long periods, a late run of scores changing the complexion of the final result

Victoria Käske made the first breakthrough in the minutes leading up to half-time for a narrow 1-0 advantage.

But six goals in the last 20 minutes changed the outlook as Emelie Tödter, Julia Schedl, Franziska Pabsch, Lena Keller, Ella Förtsch and Annika Schönhoff all added their names to the list.

Belgium top the group on goal difference with Germany through in second; both will find out their semi-final opponent this evening.

** Click here for further stats and details about the players and the tournament

** 24 EuroHockey U21 Championship matches from Pitch 1 in Valencia will be broadcast live on www.eurohockeytv.org with an €8.99 event pass (Click the graphic for more information)