Women’s EuroHockey Championship II (Gniezno, Poland) – day one round-up
Poland lead the way in Pool A after a strong win over Croatia while Austria and Italy shared the points in a thriller on day one in Gniezno. In Pool B, Czechia and Wales got the wins to get off to a flying start, too.
Monday’s schedule sees Pool B in action with Czechia facing Wales at 3.15pm (CET) and Switzerland taking on Lithuania at 5.30pm (CET)
** Watch all the action back now on www.eurohockeytv.org
Here’s a round-up of the action:
Pool A
Poland 5 Croatia 0
Four second quarter goals saw hosts Poland race to an opening day win over Croatia and put them in good shape in Pool A. It took 20 minutes to get rolling with Wiktoria Blaszyk touching in from a Viktoria Zimmermann backhand shot, a just reward for constat pressure.
Julia Balcerzak’s rising reverse-stick shot from a corner breakdown doubled the lead and it was 3-0 when Hanna Wochna tipped in from a turnover deep inside Croat territory.
Marlena Rybacha’s corner hit made it 4-0 at half-time. The second half saw the scoring slow down with Blaszyk’s second in the 41st minute adding to their total.
Italy 3 Austria 3
Honours even in a topsy-turvy thriller to close out day one as Itally fought back from 2-0 down only to be succumb to a late onslaught from Austria that ended with Kristine Vukovich equalising from the fourth of eight final quarter corners.
Austria went ahead when an off-cue corner ended with Marie Hahnekamp smashing home a powerful shot from the top of the circle in the 14th minute. Amelie Minar made it 2-0 with a tap-in after Helene Herzog’s spin cut open the Italian defence.
Sofia Laurito cut the gap in the 21st minute from a corner rebound and it was level at 2-2 two minutes later, this time from Teresa Dalla Vittoria’s deflected drag-flick.
A rasping corner hit from Maria Lunghi put Italy in front for the first time in the 43rd minute but Austria dominated the last quarter and got their point when Vukovich picked out the bottom corner.
Pool A
Pool B
Czechia 4 Lithuania 1
Czechia got up and running with a strong 4-1 win over Lithuania, a result made safe in the closing quarter with a double from Natálie Hájková.
They made most of the running in the first half and took the lead when Nikol Babická controlled a rebound brilliantly on her backhand and volleyed in for 1-0.
Lithuania has spent much of the time on the back foot but they took full advantage of their first major counter-attack, Dovile Juraite scrambling in her eighth international goal at the second attempt after a counter left them two-on-one with Anna Linková.
The lead was restored, however, when Kateřina Laciná’s quick back into the circle found Veronikia Pribikova who smacked in on her backhand for a 2-1 half-time lead.
And the result was made safe in the closing quarter when Laciná again found Hájková in the D and she thumped in a quickly taken shot. She then got her second from a clever corner deflection goal.
Wales 1 Switzerland 0
Beth Bingham’s eighth minute goal earned Wales an important win over Switzerland, her penalty stroke proving the only mark on the scoreboard.
It came after a flowing move saw Sarah Jones feed Betsan Thomas in the D, drawing a stick tackle from behind. Bingham’s powerful shot from the spot had enough on it to just about beat the diving save of Ursina Fazis.
She kept out further Welsh chances before half-time while the Swiss went close from a corner just before the break.
The insurance goal for Wales would not materialise though as Thomas and then Lily Roberts missed out on big chances but they had enough on the board to take the points.
Pool B
| Rank | Team | Pl | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Czechia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Wales | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Monday schedule
28 Jul
