Canada earned a second consecutive victory with a hard-fought 16-10 margin over Japan in a Group A encounter and leads the quartet with four points. Hungary, a winner on day one was snuffed out by Russia 14-13 in a nailbiter and both teams have the one win behind Canada.
Canada is showing that what will be three months on the road to Tokyo, will be well worth it, snapping up a second victory on day two of the FINA Women’s World League Super Final in Athens, beating Japan 16-10.
Japan twice took the lead at one and two with Canada going ahead at 3-2 and 4-3 by the first break. After Japanese sharpshooter Yumi Arima scored her second goal at 5-4 on extra with Canada dropping a defender into goal to assist goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault, Canada shot on to attack and had the margin at 9-4 by halftime.
“I’m satisfied with what we did as Japan is a very complicated team to play. I’m satisfied that the girls kept calm and how they played.”
Emma Wright scored the sixth with two attempts, grabbing the rebound to score and centre forward Elyse Lemay-Lavoie made the most of Rikako Miura coming out of the cage to make it 7-4. Several minutes later, Shae La Roche was strong down the left side on a small counter, shooting hard into goal to close the half at 9-4.
Canada just managed to level the third period at 3-3 in a busy period where both teams were shifting the centre-forward position frequently, looking for any small advantage. Arima netted twice through a lob and a rocket from seven metres and Kako Kawaguchi claimed her second on a double-extra chance for 10-7. It was looking good for Japan, but Canada went 12-7 up through Axelle Crevier from deep left and Hayley McKelvey plucking a rebound out of the air from a Gurpreet Sohi shot with just three seconds left in the period.
Although Kawaguchi, with her third, and player-of-the-match Arima with her fifth had the scoreline at 13-9, Canada was still in control and Monika Eggens’ 360-degree turn at two metres when she could have earned a penalty foul was rewarded with a score and a five-goal margin at 3:51. Maiko Hashida gave Japan its 10th goal and Eggens netted again, this time from the deep left. Japan used a timeout, but no score eventuated and Canada went into the last minute with a real buzz of excitement and scored the final goal thanks to Kindred Paul at deep left on extra-man advantage.
“I’m not so happy that we lost the game, so next game, we want to win.”
In the vital statistics, Canada converted eight from 10 on extra-man attack to Japan’s five from seven.
Full statistics — http://results.microplustiming.com/athens2021
It comes to those who persist and Russia did that tonight, fending off Hungary 14-13 in a fantastic Group A match.
It was the most engrossing match so far, and it was evenly balanced in the first quarter; Hungary took control in the second and Russia did the same in the third, setting up a thrilling final quarter in which two powerful teams were determined to win.
“Our players were in a very tough game because Hungary was strong, We played well and we did it and the goalkeeper was good, also. We need to improve the quality of the game and tomorrow we’ll play much better.”
It was Russia who moved to 13-11 and 14-12 leads, allowing Hungary to score 30 seconds from time — too late for a second victory in Athens while Russia had its first.
If you could put a finger on the crucial moment of the match, it was probably in the third period when Hungary was 9-7 ahead and scored the probable 10th just as the referee blew his whistle for an ejection. From that moment, Hungary lost confidence. What could have been a three-goal advantage was quickly wiped as Russia pounced and took the lead at 10-9. To Hungary’s credit, it scored twice to level at 11-11 by the final break.
“The third quarter (was where Russia won the match). We made some mistakes in that period. The next game against Canada will be difficult. The first half (tonight) we were pretty good, but in the second half we were tired and lost concentration.”
However, the zest and confidence had seeped away as Russia took control. Hungary hit the wood too much and the precision passing to find the free player waned slightly.
Hungary had the better of the extra-man advantage statistics, netting four from eight compared to Russia’s two from eight, but action goals can win matches and Russia proved that.
Nadezhda Glyzina’s goal for 6-6 was sublime, accepting a long upfield pass from Anastasia Simanovich by rolling over, taking the ball and scoring from two metres.
Elvina Karimova was named player of the match with her three goals, while Evgenyia Ivanova also scored a hat-trick, setting the team up with the first two. For Hungary, skipper Rita Keszthelyi and Dora Leimeter scored four each. Russia had eight different scorers and Hungary six. Hungary used both goalkeepers while Russian Anna Karnaukh made 10 critical saves.
Full statistics — http://results.microplustiming.com/athens2021