The German women's national team lost the quarterfinal match of the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship in Canada 0:3 against the USA. The team of women's national coach Thomas Schädler showed a courageous and passionate performance - kept a clean sheet against the favorites in five-on-five on the ice.
Goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter, who was guarding the goal for the fourth time at the World Cup in Brampton, was the focus from the start. The scoreboard read 20-2 shots after the first 20 minutes - the German goalkeeper saved 19 of them. A passionately defensive one DEB-Selection kept the score 0-0 for a long time in the first third, only having to accept the deficit 55 seconds before the end when they were outnumbered. Caroline Harvey's shot was initially blocked by Abstreiter, but Amanda Kessel reacted quickly and put the disc in the goal to make it 1-0 for the USA.
At the beginning of the middle section the DEB-Selection now more offensive opportunities, including by Theresa Wagner, which were not used to score. On the other hand, Hayley Scamurra ran freely towards Sandra Abstreiter in the 29th minute, but was unable to put the disc in the goal in the 1-1 duel against the German goalkeeper. A little later, however, she was also powerless when Hannah Bilka shot under the ball Fanghand took advantage of another advantage situation in favor of the Americans (33rd).
Laura Kluge had another good opportunity for them in the final period DEB-Selection in which goalie Aerin Frankel with a Fanghandsave was there. Being outnumbered, the Americans took advantage of a two-on-one situation through Abbey Murphy in the 48th minute to make it 3-0, which also represented the final score. German goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter received a standing ovation after the game, receiving the award as the best German player after 49 saves (52 shots).
Women’s national coach Thomas Schädler: “I am very proud of the team. What my team did today against one of the best teams in the world was simply incredible. We knew that there would be a lot of pressure from the Americans and there would be a lot of shots on our goal, but the girls handled it really well. Unfortunately, in the end we were unable to convert the few chances we created to score. We have to put the game behind us now and put in another strong performance in our placement game tomorrow.”
Defense attorney Daria Gleißner: “We played strong ice hockey for 60 minutes and were very compact defensively. We were also able to put some emphasis forward, but we couldn't convert them into a goal. It turned out that we didn’t score a goal in the five-on-five, which speaks for a strong team performance and good cohesion.”
The German women's national team will play in the placement game against Finland on Friday, April 14th at 21.00 p.m. MagentaSport is also showing this game live and free of charge. The winners of the two placement games will compete in a final game for fifth place on Sunday - the winner will receive the remaining place in Group A at the upcoming World Cup.