Women's national team successful against Austria
Second game, second win. With a well-deserved 4:1 (2:1, 0:0, 2:0) against Austria, the German women's national team remains on course to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
From the beginning, the team of national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker was focused, strong and dominant. Manuela Anwander had the chance to take the lead after just one and a half minutes, but narrowly missed from a free position. After seven minutes, the DEB-Select what you missed afterward. Laura Kluge crossed to Andrea Lanzl, who made it 1-0. However, this lead didn't last long. Out of the crowd, Esther Kantor scored the equalizer just 52 seconds later.
But the German team didn't let this throw them off their game and created further good chances. Andrea Lanzl, Kerstin Spielberger, Marie Delarbre and Laura Kluge took the lead again, but were unable to overcome Austria's goalkeeper Theresa Hornich. Tanja Eisenschmid then achieved this in the 14th minute with a powerful shot from the blue line.
The dominance of German women continued in the second third. Germany dominated the game and continued to create good chances, but struggled with converting them. Andrea Lanzl had the best chance in the middle third, but she missed the post after 32 minutes. On the other hand, the prudent German defense left little opportunity for the Austrians.
The game was similar in the final section. The DEB-Selection consistently kept the tempo high, continued to put the opponent under pressure and forced them to take penalties. Daria Gleissner took advantage of one of them with a placed shot next to the right post to make it 3-1 (54th). Just 22 seconds later, Kerstin Spielberger not only decided the game with a backhand, the striker also celebrated her international anniversary: The 21-year-old made her 100th appearance for the German national team and was also voted her team's best player.
In the last game of the qualifying tournament the DEB- Selection tomorrow (10am CET) on hosts Japan. The winner will be at the 2018 Olympics.
Women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker: “We are happy that we were able to win the second game too. The team showed a great attitude again and improved once again compared to the first game. We have fought for a great starting position and we want to use it tomorrow.”
Defense attorney Daria Gleißner: "We had a lot of chances and were able to decide the game with the third goal. Japan will be a strong opponent tomorrow and we will have to play our best hockey against them to be successful."
You can find detailed statistics here.