The fourth day of the Women’s European Junior Championships followed the trend of much of the competition thus far, with a huge margin of victory for the top nations.
Russia beat Romania by forty (yes, you read that correctly) goals while the Netherlands put thirty-seven goals past Turkey limiting them to scoring only one goal. Hungary also brought their best shooting against Bulgaria to all but book their place in the quarter-finals.
The hosts Croatia pulled off an incredible victory against Germany to put them well in with a shout to make the quarter-finals.
In group A, Spain were barely troubled by Great Britain and have won the group, while Israel comfortably defeated Serbia.
Greece proved to be a step too far for France in Group B while Italy were unchallenged by Slovakia in Group D.
Group A
The leaders of Group A, Spain, made light work of Great Britain this evening. Elisa Portillo continued her good goal-scoring form supplemented by hat tricks from Giorgia Gallinato and Noelia Morillo.
Israel has guaranteed the second spot in Group A after comfortably beating Serbia in the last game of the day. Dar Menakerman and Alma Yaacobi, who have been outstanding throughout the tournament, were once again in fine form to secure the win for their side.
Spain 21- 4 Great Britain (8-1, 4-2, 6-1, 3-0)
Serbia 9 – 18 Israel (2-7, 2-4, 3-4, 2-3)
Standings: 1. Spain 9pts, 2. Israel 9pts, 3. Serbia 3pts, 4. Czech Republic 3pts, Great Britain 0pts.
Group B
All of the Netherlands’ players scored at least once against Turkey as they completely blew them away. Lola Moolhuijzen became the fourth player at the competition to score nine times in a single match, while the Turks’ only goal was an equalizer from Duru Kaleagasi early in the first quarter.
Greece beat France in a slightly more competitive game thanks to goals from Santa, Siouti, Chaldaiou, Tricha and Kyriakaki. Juliette Dhalluin netted six times for the French, but it was not enough to earn them any points.
The Greeks will most likely top the group even if they do not defeat Turkey tomorrow. France will still have a chance to qualify to the quarter-finals unless Ukraine can somehow defeat the Netherlands in their last group game.
Netherlands 37 – 1 Turkey (12-1, 6-0, 9-0, 10-0)
Greece 22 – 13 France (3-1, 6-6, 7-2, 6-4)
Standings: 1. Greece 9pts, 2. Netherlands 6pts, 3. France 6pts, 4. Ukraine 3pts, 5. Turkey 0pts
Group C
Croatia secured a huge victory in front of their home crowd over group rivals Germany thanks to an outstanding last quarter which saw them come from one goal down to win the match. Iva Rozic again scored three for the Croats, whilst skipper Filipa Petric and Jelena Butic also led the line for the hosts.
Russia put an impressive forty-three goals past Romania today. Seven players scored more than three goals for the Russians as they embarrassed their opposition. Sharafutdinova scored eight times, Savchenko netted seven, Kazanina bagged six and Koptseva converted five.
Croatia 7-6 Germany (2-2, 1-2, 1-1, 3-1)
Russia 43-3 Romania (10-0, 10-1, 12-0, 11-2)
Standings: 1. Russia 9pts, 2. Croatia 6pts, 3. Germany 6pts, 4. Malta 3pts, 5. Romania 0pts.
Group D
Hungary took Bulgaria apart in the first game of the day. Panni Szegedi, the captain, led by example and netted eight times, while Kata Hajdu scored seven and Sara Felkai put five away.
Italy have their first win of the tournament as they beat Slovakia in convincing style. Giacomo Grassi’s side look good for second position thanks to commanding performances from Morena Leone, Emma De March, Paola Di Maria and Aurora Longo.
Bulgaria 5 – 31 Hungary (1-8, 0-10, 3-7, 1-6)
Italy 22 – 3 Slovakia (3-0, 6-1, 5-2, 8-0)
Standings: 1. Hungary 6pts, 2. Italy 3pts, 3. Slovakia 3pts, 4. Bulgaria 0pts.
Tomorrow’s fixtures (CET):
09:00 – Turkey vs Greece – Group B
10:30 – Russia vs Malta – Group C
12:00 – Italy vs Bulgaria – Group D
13:30 – Slovakia vs Hungary – Group D
16:30 – Great Britain vs Serbia – Group A
18:00 – Spain vs Czech Republic – Group A
19:30 – Romania vs Croatia – Group C
21:00 – Netherlands vs Ukraine – Group B
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