Italy’s heroic penalty shootout victory over Hungary was the headline of the opening day of the U20 Women’s World Championships in Coimbra, Portugal.
The Hungarians appeared a shadow of their recent performance against the Junior Setterosa in Budapest last week. Despite a decent start by the Magyars, the game remained on a knife-edge throughout, leading to a penalty shootout after a 10-10 tie in regular time. Kata Hajdu, a senior member of the national team for Hungary, missed the crucial penalty—a surprising turn of events given her usual reliability in key moments.
In Group B, the United States easily defeated Israel 21-7, with Jenna Flynn contributing six scores for Team USA.
Spain currently leads Group A after a dominant 20-5 victory over Brazil. Greece also performed admirably, overcoming the Netherlands by a three-goal margin (14-11).
In Division Two, each group featured only one game. Portugal secured an impressive 13-7 victory in the opening evening, with Maria Machado scoring four goals. Machado, who played in the French League with Bordeaux last season, proved instrumental in Portugal’s win. France dominated Chile 27-2, thanks in part to seven goals each from Ema Vernoux and Juliette D’Halluin. Australia had an easy victory over Kazakhstan, routing their Asian opponents 17-2.
Japan defeated Croatia 16-11, with hat-tricks from Momoe Inoue, Suzune Kobayashi, and Kanon Sugimoto.
The action continues tomorrow with Italy taking on the United States (Group A), and the Netherlands looking to bounce back against the Spanish (Group A)
Day 1, U20 World Championships, Coimbra, Portugal
Group A
Netherlands 11 – 14 Greece (2-3, 2-4, 4-5, 3-2)
Netherlands: S. Keijzer, N. De Vries 2, K. Van der Veen, A. Roekvisch 2, N. Van de Geijn, S. Slot, L. Den Ouden, F. Voordouw 2, L. Moolhuijzen, D. Logtens, A. Christodoulou-Out, P. Gorter
Greece: L. Mavrota, S. Santa 5, C. Siotui 1, T. Moustakaria 1, S. Tornarou 2, D. Koureta 2, N. Chaldaiou, F. Tricha 2, A. Karampetsou, F. Angelidi 1, E. Konstantopoulou, A. Kalaitzi, D. Andreadi.
Spain 20 – 5 Brazil (7-0, 6-1, 3-2, 4-2)
Spain: M. Terre, G. Gallinato, I. Piralova 1, A. Marcos 3, Q. Bertran, N. Perez 4, P. Prats 1, C. Moreno 1, D. Moreno 3, A. Munoz 1, E. Ruiz 4, M. Palacio 1, B. Colominas
Brazil: S. Freitas, A. De Barros Silva, A. Neves, M. Cadengue Silva, S. Azevedo 2, L. Lorieto, M. Nascimento, J. Cavalvante, R. Moreira 1, L. Bonetti, K. Da Silva 2, S. Bedani.
Group B
Italy 14 – 13 Hungary (1-2, 2-3, 5-2, 2-3)
Italy: H. Santapaola, M. Leone 3, P. Di Maria 1, A. Longo 1, R. Bianchi 1, E. De March, S. Giustini 3, V. Sbruzzi 1, D. Bettini 3, V. Santoro, M. Giuffrida, O. Sesena, L. Papi.
Hungary: B. Neszmely, T. Aubeli, F. Fekete, K. Hajdu 1, E. Macsai, N. Sumegi 2, E. Varro, N. Golopencza, P. Szegedi 5, P. Tiba 1, R. Irmes, D. Domsodi 3, S. Golopencza.
United States 21 – 7 Israel (4-2, 5-0, 5-2, 7-3)
United States: C. Carpenter, B. Ochoa 1, E. Ausmus, M. Netherton, A. Stryker 1, T. Smith 3, J. Flynn 6, E. Lineback 1, H. Quin 2, E. Woodhead, L. Steele, R. Gazzaniga 2, A. Pearson
Israel: M. Katz, T. Levi 2, N Levinshtein, A. Yaacobi 2, M. Vashdi, D. Menakerman 2, D. Namakshtansky, N. Sasover, N. Markovsky, R. Gazit, N. Kurtsev, C. Rahum, C. Arbiv 1.
Group C
South Africa 7 – 13 Portugal (1-4, 2-3, 2-4, 2-2)
South Africa: O. Gando, T. Macdonell 1, T. Caswell, C. Mentz, E. Thorton, M. Christian, E. Zondo, J. Van den Bosch, D. Wedderburn, J. Williams, J. Van den Bosch, M. Haworth 2, M. Boaventura.
Portugal: M. Ribeiro, A. Rodrigues 2, C. Fernandes 3, I. Dos Santos, C. Quinhentas, C. Pereira, A. Monteiro, M. Lousa 2, J. Arromba 1, M. Machado 4, M. Tejo, M. Mendes 1, M. De Carvalho
Group D
France 27 – 2 Chile (9-1, 6-0, 5-0, 7-1)
France: P. Martinuead Peret, J. Dhalluin 7, E. Duflos 2, C. Boloukbachi 4, L. Jean-Michel 1, L. Vernoux 2, L. Andres 2, V. Heurtaux, E. Vernoux 7, J. Mekki 1, T. Raspo 1, L. Di Fraja, E. Lefebvre
Chile: A. De Andres, M. Dufflocq, A. Hernandez, I. Del Villar 1, D. Zavala, B. Gutierrez 1, A. Antillanca, A. Guerrero, A. Puelma, P. Torres, C. Beltran, V. Diaz, V. Roa.
Group E
Croatia 11 – 16 Japan (3-3, 2-2, 2-5, 4-6)
Croatia: L. Medvesek, A. Stipanov, N. Eterovic, J. Butic 4, M. Butic, R. Glas 1, N. Medic, N. Alamat, I. Rozic 3, R. Pesic 1, D. Kangler 2, A. Maric, A. Goreta
Japan: S. Ajkawa, M. Inoue 3, S. Kobayashi 3, S. Fukuda 1, K. Sugiimoto 3, M. Nishiyama, S. Katada, H. Yamamoto 1, K. Hanai 1, M. Kobayashi 2, S. Sekine 1, R. Otsubo, H. Miyagawa.
Group F
Australia 17 – 2 Kazakhstan (2-0, 5-0, 6-1, 5-1)
Australia: E. Gath, A. Pamp, K. Blew 1, E. Putt 3, T. Dawkins 2, T. Taoso 2, T. Logan, M. Ogg 1, S. Hardingham 2, N. Thomas, J. Higgs, S. Green 2, L. Smith
Kazakhstan: V. Kolesnichenko, D. Pochinok 1, A. Glukhova, V. Kaplun, V. Anossova 1, M. Rakhmanova, K. Nauryzbayeva, O. Vorontsova, M. Nabiyeva, A. Lemachko, Y. Druzhinia, A. Altybassarova, M. Martynenko
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