Classification 9-12 Semifinals — Szeged

ARGENTINA 7 NEW ZEALAND 13 

Tiszavirag pool’s crowd saw two new teams coming from different cities. In the first quarter, both teams tried to find the rhythm and get to know each other, which ended up in a 3-3 draw. In the second, New Zealand started to find the spaces in Argentina’s defence and built a two-goal advantage. In the third, the Kiwis increased it, scoring four and letting in just one. The last was the quietest quarter as the teams’ fate was decided earlier in the match.

Match heroes
Lucia Ruiz scored all of her shots for a hat-trick. Morgan McDowall scored two goals from four shots and brought home the MVP award.

Turning point
From the second quarter, New Zealand started to defend harder and tighter while keeping the same scoring efficiency, which was too much for Argentina.

Stats don’t lie
Both teams were perfect from five metres. Argentina failed to score a single goal from action. Both keepers' efficiency was under 50 per cent. New Zealand scored from every third shot.

Bottom line
Argentina was attending its first international tournament and learnt a lot from it, as one of the best South American countries. New Zealand showed great character and almost had a better result in the first stage. It will play for the ninth place.

What they said 
Angela Winstanley-Smith (NZL) — Head Coach
The girls were really upset about the last game against France. Today we were just playing our game, and it came for us in the 2nd half. We played really well collectively. I can only be happy as a coach, the girls are so dedicated, they make so many sacrifices. We’re looking forward to playing against the winner of the Kazakhstan-Canada game.
Morgan McDowall (NZL) — Two Goals, Player of the Match
“Honestly we knew coming into that game that was going to be a hard one. Especially after losing against France. We just found out who that guy was, who passed away two years ago, so I’m really shocked to be receiving that award, but I couldn’t do that without my team. We will have nothing to lose in our last game, so I look forward to it.”.
Fabio Lombardo (ARG) — Assistant Coach
“Congratulations to New Zealand. It was new; everything is challenging; we still have a lot to do. They really wanted this win, to be played with heart and with attitude, but it wasn’t enough. Canada is the most outstanding out of the four of us, so I think we will be playing against Kazakhstan.”
Lucia Ruiz (ARG) — Athlete
“At first, we started winning, but things got out of control for us. We got kind of nervous, we started losing our minds and we had some easy mistakes that could have been avoided. I think we can work on that, and also psychological, so we can work on that too and how we will prepare for these types of games. I really trust in my team, so I hope we can win the last game.”

CANADA 19 KAZAKHSTAN 11 

The disappointed Canadians came to Szeged to show they belong to the best teams in the world. Kazakhstan did better than its men’s team so far and they had another big test. In the first quarter, Canada slowly found the rhythm of the match and Kazakhstan stayed close. From the second until the end quarter, Canada showed why it is the insider for ninth place and easily outscored Kazakhstan and enjoyed the game, scoring as many as they could.

Match heroes
Captain/leader Emma Wright was the most valuable player, scoring four from six shots; on the other side Anastassiya Yeremima scored three.

Turning point
In the second quarter, Canada felt comfortable in the new pool, totally controlled the match.

Stats don’t lie
Canada scored from all seven extra-player opportunities and penalty shots and it was 60 per cent accurate from all the opportunities, beating Kazakhstan in every aspect of the match.

Bottom line
One more match left for both teams and they will have a huge chance to finish the world championships with a win. Canada next time will be ready to be in the best eight teams and Kazakhstan will "grow its game" at home.

What they said
David Paradelo (CAN) — Head Coach
“This point the only thing the girls can do is push and try to enjoy scoring goals. There is nothing more to play for than honour. We wanted to score more against the teams we got in Budapest, but they outscored us, so we are going to work on that. We will play with the same mentality. We need to build on every aspect of the game. We need to play better than we already played in this tournament and we have one more game to prove it.”
Emma Wright (CAN) — Player of the Match
“I think this is a beautiful pool, but we were disappointed to leave Budapest, but we came here and made sure to play strong games. Our defence struggled for a while, but we were still able to do well in offence, which is important to us. I don’t think we will be satisfied with the ninth place, but we want to win the last game. It just gives us a lot more work for the year to come.”
Marat Naurazbekov (KAZ) — Head Coach
“Playing this top team was very hard. The pool and everything was very good; it’s good to be here. The next game against Argentina will be tough, but we will do everything we can to secure the victory.”
Anastassiya Yeremina (KAZ) — Athlete
“It was a good game, but hard. We did everything we could do. If we played better, we could’ve won this game.”