Fight and effort in the final third secured a 3-0 (1-0; 1-0; 1-0) win over Japan. On Thursday, the German U16 women's national team will play against Hungary for 5th place.
The German team began their second round game against Japan, who surprisingly slipped to fourth place in Group B behind Hungary, with a lot of pressure. A German penalty in the fifth minute brought the Japanese into the game. The German team was rarely able to break free, but survived being outnumbered unscathed. As a result, both teams equalized, there were chances on both sides, but none could be used. In the 15th minute of the game, the German team took a 1-0 lead in the power play. Luisa Welcke ran behind the goal with the disc and played a pass to Ronja Hark, who had sneaked up behind the Japanese defense and shot in without any problems. The Japanese increased the pressure shortly before the third break, the German team was only able to break free with an illegal long-range shot, but took the narrow lead into the first third break.
The pace at the start of the second section was high. The German team repeatedly had to defend itself from the quick attacks of the strong Japanese. Florian Neumayer's team had not been able to create their own chances up to this point despite being in the opposing third. The German team had a lot of luck in the 25th minute of the game. Sofie Disl had already been beaten, but the Japanese striker aimed her follow-up shot past the goal along the German goal line. In one of the few German offensive actions in the middle of the third, Annabella Sterzik's shot was just parried by Japan's goalkeeper. Japan then stepped up a gear and restricted the German team in their own third for several minutes. It was during this period of pressure from Japan that the second German goal burst. Lilli Welcke took the measure and hit her sister Luisa's shot from the air directly into the goal to make it 2-0. On the other hand, Disl used all her skills and saved everything that came her way. Just three minutes before the end of the period, the German team had another chance to pull ahead in the power play. But the Japanese defense was stable and was able to break free again and again.
Germany was able to gain more of the game at the beginning of the final period and had a top-class chance through Jennifer Miller. She appeared completely free in front of the Japanese goalkeeper, but didn't place the shot precisely enough. On the other side, Japan brought every target towards the goal, but either Disl was there or the people in front of her cleared the ball in front of an opponent. Thanks to a good fighting performance and a lot of willingness to run
The German team kept their opponents under control until the end of the game and added their own accents through Pauline Gruchot and Ronja Hark. Two and a half minutes before the end, the opponent took the goalkeeper off the ice in favor of a sixth skater. Japan got into the line-up quickly, but the German players kept pushing the player with the lead to the outside. One minute before the end, Alina Leveringhaus got the target behind her own goal, took two steps and scored from her own goal line into the deserted Japanese goal to make the final score 3-0.
Germany: Disl (clock man) – Strompf, king; Lilli Welcke (A), Luisa Welcke, Liang – Raschke (C), Mayer; Bartell, Leveringhaus, Sterzik – Heinz, Kohberg; Miller, Gruchot (A), Hark – Topfmeier, Cyrulies; Willeitner, Maßner, Wallner
Gates: 1:0 Ronja Hark (15:25/PP1), 2:0 Lilli Welcke (34:11), 3:0 Alina Leveringhaus (58:56/EN)
Penalty minutes: Germany 4 – Japan 4
Tommy Kettner, women’s national coach U18: “We played well for over 60 minutes and adhered to the instructions very well, especially in the final third. Against a strong opponent like Japan you have to stick to the game system 100%, otherwise you will quickly fall behind. The girls did exactly that today and used their scoring opportunities effectively. A good goalkeeping performance rounded off the team performance. Tomorrow we will face Hungary in the game for 5th place, against whom we have always seen close games in the past. We have to act with full concentration again and mobilize the last energy reserves.”
All information about the tournament can be found here HERE.