Namibia’s inline hockey team placed third at the Junior Women’s World Championship, beating hosts Italy 4-3 to claim the bronze medal on Monday.
The competition, held in Roccarasso, had ten international sides vying for the coveted world cup, with the United States emerging with the honours.
The pressure was on all week, with some familiar flags appearing at the top of the tables in the two pools of competition. Spain, Great Britain and Chinese Taipei led group A, where the Spanish dominated overall across the opening round robin matches.
In Pool B, it was hard to see past the US. But Namibia and the hosts Italy played hard to hold on into the playoffs.
The semi-finals raised the temperature and the level of play, starting with US versus Italy. Despite valiant efforts from the home players, the Americans were on top and in control from the beginning. Lillian Winckler scored after 12 minutes of desperate defending from the Italians.
Sara Carrion had to sit for penalties twice in the first half while the Americans swarmed the Italian net. At the half-way stage, there was still only one goal difference, but the brave Azzurri could hold on no longer in the second period, and the goals started coming in rapidly as the Americans sealed a 5-0 result.
In the next semi-final, the emerging powerhouse of inline hockey, Namibia, faced the established superstars of Spain.
Like the preceding encounter, there was a clear direction of travel, but the Namibian strength in defence and somewhat more open play, allowed them to hold on until very late in the first half before the irrepressible Blanca Lopez got the first goal for the Spanish.
In a flash of lightning, the next one went in off Lucia Moreno, and the atmosphere suddenly changed as the teams went into half-time.
The break did little to reignite the stars from Africa as Spain began the second half with the third goal.
The Iberians scored twice more as the fatigue began to set in for Namibia, sealing a 5-0 result to set up the final battle with the US. – worldskate.org
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