Trembled, Fought, Won. Thanks to an energetic performance in the final third, the German women's national team secured a 3:2 (0:1, 1:0, 1:1, 0:0, 1:0) victory after a penalty shootout in the opening game of the women's Olympic qualification tournament in Tomakomai , Japan.
Although she had DEB-Selection got off to a better start and had the opportunity to take the lead through Manuela Anwander after just two minutes, but the striker failed because of the good French goalkeeper Caroline Baldin, as did Kerstin Spielberger after nine minutes, who missed a free shot in front of the goal. After that, three shorthanded games in a row brought national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker's team out of step. France took advantage of one of them after the 17th minute with a shot deflected by Marion Allemoz to make it 0-1.
In the second third, the German team appeared to be well recovered and constantly put the Equipe Tricolore under pressure, which is clearly reflected in the shot ratio of 17:3. However, it took until the 35th minute for Sophie scratcher to take advantage of one of the numerous good opportunities to equalize. Just 15 seconds later, Nicola Eisenschmid had the chance to put Germany in the lead with a solo effort, but she was denied by Baldin.
In the final section it could DEB-Team initially failed to keep up the pressure and was punished for it. The Germans had just overcome a minority when Lore Baudrit hit a backhand out of the crowd to give France another lead. As a result, the German team tried in vain to turn the game around for a long time. France defended itself with a well-organized defense and had the necessary luck with the targets for a long time. Even a double advantage remained unused nine minutes before the end. With 64 seconds to go, the German women's constant running was rewarded. Marie Delarbre asserted herself energetically on the right side and shot the puck into the goal from a tight angle for the much-celebrated equalizer.
After a goalless extra time, the German women secured the important additional point in the penalty shootout. Manuela Anwander and Andrea Lanzl (who was honored as the best German player after the game) converted safely, while German goalkeeper Jenny Harss fended off the two French attempts.
After this opening win, it's off to them DEB-Selection only continues on Saturday. Austria is the next opponent at 14:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. CET).
National coach Benjamin Hinterstocker: “I am proud of my team’s fighting spirit. Our goal was to win the first game, and we achieved that. We played great ice hockey for over 65 minutes and were rewarded for it. Now our full attention is on our next opponent, Austria.”
Team captain Julia Zorn: “We proved today that we will play until the end and not give up. We are pleased that we were able to take the first step. Now we have to learn from our mistakes and make them better in the future.”
You can find detailed statistics here.