The German U18 women's national team lost its last game at the 4-nation tournament in St. Gallen (Switzerland) 0:1 (0:1, 0:0, 0:0) against the hosts from Switzerland.
The German team started courageously and launched the first attack from the opening face-off. Tommy Kettner and Franziska Busch's players brought the puck towards the opponent's goal again and again, but were unable to create any clear chances at that point. Later, the Swiss also came into play and scored the first goal with their first shot on goal by Emma Ingold in the fifth minute of the game, making it 0:1. Immediately afterwards, the German team had the opportunity to draw level on the power play. However, they were unable to get into formation for the long term. Almost twelve minutes had been played when the first German player had to sit in the penalty box. In the subsequent shorthanded situation, the German team played their tasks with concentration and had an attentive goalkeeper in Sofie Disl, who defused several shots from the blue line. Nina Jobst-Smith brought one of the few German chances to the Swiss goal guarded by Caroline Spies five and a half minutes before the break. When things got a little heated in front of the opponent's goal, the German team received another penalty. Jule Schiefer was able to intercept a pass from the Swiss in the subsequent shorthanded situation and launch an attack of her own. But her shot was too inaccurate. Nina Christof had the best chance in the 17th minute of the game when she picked up speed and moved towards the opponent's goal from the outside. But her shot went just wide of the goal. With significantly more possession towards the end, the German team went into the first break with a narrow deficit.
The German team made the leap into the second third well. She had several chances to score in the first exchange, but she couldn't really pose a threat. There was hardly a phase of five-on-five play until the break. Numerous penalties on both sides meant there was little flow in the game. Neither team was able to score another goal in the respective power plays and so the score remained 0-1 going into the last break.
And again the German team came out of the locker room with momentum and made the first attack from the face-off. Nina Jobst-Smith tried a nice solo in the 44th minute, but her shot was stopped by Spies. In the 45th minute the Germans continued to play with a man down. The Swiss did get into formation, but Sofie Disl cleared the ball confidently several times. The German team tried again and again to create chances, but they didn't really succeed. Three minutes before the end, they had another chance to equalize in a double power play. But despite numerous shot attempts, no puck found its way into the opponent's goal until the end of the game.
Tommy Kettner, U18 women’s national coach: “As expected, it was a difficult and close game. Due to the many outnumbered games, it was difficult for us to find our rhythm. We were able to create a few chances at five-on-five, but unfortunately we weren't able to finish them successfully. Overall, the tournament can be viewed as very positive.”
Germany: Disl (uhrmann) – Raschke (A), Klinger (C); Hark, Slate, Jobst-Smith – Strompf, König/Badura; Bartell, Christof, Leveringhaus – Heinz, Merkle; Fiedler, Gruchot (A), Miller – Cyrulies, Sterzik, Liang
Gates: 0:1 Emma Ingold (04:46 / Anna Neuenschwander, Alicia Pagnamenta)
Penalty minutes: Germany 14 – Switzerland 12
Viewers: 80
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.