Germany survived an almighty scare to keep their immaculate record in the women’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship, going through to the final four along with Austria, Spain and Czechia at the UNYP Arena in Prague.
Germany produced an outstanding second half performance to overcome Belgium 5-3, roaring back from 3-0 at half-time to ensure they continue their record of always reaching the final four.
The red panthers made the most of their opportunities in the first half with Clarie Barry and Margaux Coudron scoring from their first two attacks and Hélène Delva made it three from another corner.
Germany had dominated most of the play but could not score from their first five corners, leaving them under pressure. But they stormed back in the second half, taking out their goalkeeper at the big break and it paid instant dividends.
Charlotte Gerstenhöfer’s cross took a lucky deflection to get them on the scoreboard then she added another to equalise from a corner after Philine Drumm had reduced reduce the deficit.
Maike Scheuer made it 4-3 before their goalkeeper returned and they were able to keep Belgium at bay in the closing stages.
The result meant Austria needed to avoid defeat to top the group and advance but Switzerland could deny them if they came up with a big win.
In the end, it was an extremely tight battle with defences on top for the most part. It was scoreless until the 34th minute when Johanna Buctleitner broke the deadlock.
Switzerland levelled for 1-1 in the last few minutes, meaning they ended the group in fourth place and move into the 5th to 8th place playoffs.
In Pool B, Poland needed a win over Ukraine to have a chance to advance to the semis but it was their opponent who produced their strongest performance to date.
Karyna Leonova and Kateryna Popova both scored from their first two corners in Q1 to give them a strong advantage and it stayed that way until the final minute. Leonova scored twice more to extend their advantage out to 4-0.
It means Poland end fourth in the group and will now face Belgium while Ukraine are in third and play Switzerland on Saturday evening.
The group phase finished with Spain and Czechia meeting for top spot in the group with the former coming out on top 5-3. The result means the Spaniards will play Germany in the semi-final while the Czechs face Austria.
Nikol Babická netted twice either side of goals from Bea Perez and Clara Ycart for 2-2 going into the final quarter but the game was decided in Q4 when Marta Grau and Maria Lopez gave the red sticks the upper hand.
