Women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-A (Salon-de-Provence, France)
A four-star first half set France on course for a memorable 5-0 final women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-A win over Italy in Salon to secure Euro promotion and a Junior World Cup ticket.
It completed the perfect week in which they won four from four, scoring 22 times without conceding in a confident showing all round.
Captain Mathilde Duffrene was named the best player of the tournament and also received the top goalscorer prize for her efforts, ending her underage career on a high.
She said of the weekend: “I am so proud to have won this EuroHockey final 5-0 and even more proud to have qualified for the World Cup. I don’t think it could have gone better than we ever imagined so we are so happy.
“It was a hard tournament and I think the hardest is yet to come for us but we have a really strong team and I think they are going to do great things.
“Personally, I am proud to finish at this level with this trophy – and these prizes – and will be happy to be there, going to be the first fan at the Junior World Cup next year!”
She broke the deadlock in just the second minute to set up the win with Clemence Cadot extending the advantage in the first quarter after Zoé Gaillard’s mazy dribble.
Cadot also got on the end of a pass from Léopoldine Coppin for the third and Margaux Grimbaum put the four clear before half-time. Aliénor du Monceau gave them a fifth to allow the home fans to celebrate a big success.
Earlier, Ukraine took third place with two goals in quick succession turning around their contest with Lithuania in the last nine minutes.
Lithuania had led in the first half via Kamilė Zalogaitė but Ukraine fought back in the last quarter with Veronika Korobkina and Anna Shybchenko scoring in the 51st and 52nd minutes respectively.
Player of the tournament: Mathilde Duffrene (France)
Top goalscorer: Mathilde Duffrene (France) – 5 goals
Goalkeeper of the tournament: Iryna Melezhyk (Ukraine)
Final standings
- France
- Italy
- Ukraine
- Lithuania
