Lausanne, Switzerland: The round of classification matches to decide the rankings from 9th to 16th place at the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup 2023 came to an end with a nail-biting thriller between India and the USA. While Chile had to satisfy itself at the 12th spot after losing to Korea, Canada finished last in the World Cup at the 16th place.
Let’s have a quick round-up of the four matches that happened in Chile on Saturday.
Canada vs New Zealand (Full-Time Score: 3-5)
Madeline Harris starred for the Black Sticks as she scored a hat-trick to beat Canada in an enthralling match to kick off the proceedings of Day 10 at the World Cup. New Zealand’s attack during the entire game was on point as their forwards earned 10 penalty corners.
Canada started the game on a great note with skipper Allison Kuzyk scoring in the third minute itself. The two other goals were scored by their forward Elizabeth Mathisen in the 27th and 50th minutes of the game, but it wasn’t sufficient as New Zealand had sealed the game in their favor with five goals.
“It’s been a pretty tough week for our team but proud to finish off on a high. It was a team effort today as we had decided to go all out from the first minute itself,” said hat-trick Madeline Harris.
Zimbabwe vs South Africa (Full-Time Score: 1-6)
It was a completely South Africa-dominated game from the start of the match as Shanna Mendonca scored a goal in the 17th minute. It was then followed by a hat-trick by Malikah Hamza to seal the game in their favor.
Zimbabwe tried to come back into the game in the 36th minute via a goal from Tinodiwanashe Elijah but it was way too far from their hands to match up against the South Africans.
The Player of the Match Malikah Hamza said, “We had got a tough pool because of which we were out of the semifinals contention but we wanted to make a statement today and I am glad we were able to do it.”
Chile vs Korea (Full-Time Score: 1-2)
It was again a heart-break for the hosts as they had to satisfy themselves at the 12th place after losing to Korea in a close match. Chile’s captain Francisca Irazoqui started the game on a high as she scored the first goal in the 15th minute but Korea’s Mihyang Park found the back of Chile’s net in the next two minutes to level the game.
In the 22nd minute, Sujin AN’s drag-flick in the penalty corner was too fast for Chile’s goalkeeper to defend as they took the lead. Chile tried hard in the second half to score a leveler but the Korean defense was too strong for them to break past their line.
Goal-scorer Mihyang Park said, “We had decided to not give up on this match, whatsoever it may be. We missed out on a few penalty corners; else we could have won it by a bigger margin.”
USA vs India [Full-Time Score: 2-2 (Shoot-out Score: 2-3)]
The last and most interesting match of the day saw two teams who had a mixed run in the tournament play against each other. The game was tied at 2-2 at the end of 60 minutes and even went to sudden death after being tied at the end of five shootouts as well. The intensity of this game was on a whole different level.
Kiersten Thomassey scored both goals for USA (27’ and 53’) while Manju Chorsiya (11’) and Sunelita Toppo (57’) netted one each for the women in blue. Sunelita’s goal proved to be the difference as she scored in the dying minutes of the match to level the game. In the shootouts, it was Rutaja’s heroics that took India to victory, as she scored off both the opportunities that she got.
“We had seen videos of USA’s matches and had analyzed their game. We structured our game accordingly and played with full focus. We are happy to finish on a high at the end of the tournament.”
To see the schedule of the matches on the final day, click here.
FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup Chile 2023 – 09 December 2023
Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional
Result: 15th–16th Place Classification Match
Canada 3-5 New Zealand
Player of the Match: Madeline Harris (NZL)
Umpires: Minami Inamoto (JPN) and Melissa Taylor (RSA)
Result: 13th–14th Place Classification Match
Zimbabwe 1-6 South Africa
Player of the Match: Malikah Hamza (RSA)
Umpires: Junko Wagatsuma (JPN) and Veronica Villafane (ARG)
Result: 11th–12th Place Classification Match
Chile 1-2 Korea
Player of the Match: Mihyang Park (KOR)
Umpires: Durga Devi (IND) and Victoria Pazos (PAR)
Result: 9th–10th Place Classification Match
USA 2-2 India (Shootout Score: 2-3)
Player of the Match: Rutaja Dadaso Pisal (IND)
Umpires: Jianjun Chen (CHN) and Katrina Turner (NZL)
Source: fih.hockey
