Favourites, The Netherlands, won the Female Junior Hockey World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany, back-to-back and their third in history after defeating Argentina 4-2 on penalty strokes in a blistering final at the Warsteiner Stadium yesterday.
The two sides were levelled 1-1 after the match but The Netherland’s superiority in the penalty shoot-outs prevailed.
Van Wijk Lieke’s beautiful drag-flick rattled through the top corner of the net for Holland’s goal with just two minutes left for the half before Argentina’s Jimena Cedres equalised on the 66th minute from a deflected shot from a penalty corner.
The Argentines were hoping to equal the two-time record of the Dutch but they fumbled after early dominance, flopping with two short corners and failing to keep their focus in the last third of the pitch.
The Dutch found their rhythm late in the first quarter of the half breaking the fluidity of the Argentina attack and taking them on when it mattered.
India defeated England 3-2 on penalty strokes to pick bronze after both teams had tied on 1-1 during regulation time.
According to the final placement, Spain, Australia, USA, South Africa, Newzealand, Germany, Korea Republic, China, Belgium, Canada, Russia and Ghana placed from fifth to the 16th in that order.
Ghana’s Junior Black Sticks ended their maiden campaign losing on penalty strokes to Belgium and Russia on Saturday and yesterday respectively.
The two matches ended 3-4 and 3-1 against Ghana in the shoot-outs respectively.
Queensilla Shaibu and Elizabeth Opoku were the scorers for Ghana against Belgium and Russia respectively.
The Best Player of the tournament went to Rani of India while Holland’s van Wijk Lieke’s 14 goals won her the Top Scorer Award and Monterrat Sofia of Argentina won the Best Goalkeeper Award.
By Daniel Kenu/Daily Graphic/Ghana
