Australia made a huge statement ahead of the quarterfinals with a thundering victory over Croatia while China, Netherlands and Canada will join it in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Overview
In the crossovers where the winners go through to the quarterfinals, Australia hammered Croatia 28-4; Netherlands dumped New Zealand 13-2; China edged Serbia 14-12 and Canada defeated Italy 10-6. This means that this victorious quartet gets to meet the group winners. Australia will play Greece; China will tackle Hungary; Netherlands faces United States of America and Canada plays defending champion Spain.
The lower-ranked teams continued their round-robin matches in the battle for 13-20 classifications.
In Group G, Turkiye defeated South Africa 17-13 in a match where the Africans won the final period 4-2, and Brazil downed Malta 15-3
In Group H, Colombia shunted Zimbabwe 17-8 and Germany nudged out Serbia 9-7.
Match Reports
Match 33. Group G, SOUTH AFRICA 13 TURKIYE 17 (3-6, 2-3, 3-6, 4-2)
Turkiye suffered plenty of resistance from South Africa, which is improving with every match, even winning the final quarter. However, Turkiye’s power shooting and ability to draw penalty fouls proved to be South Africa’s undoing. Turkiye opened with the first two goals and trades went to 3-3 before Defne Keremoglu on counter; Eda Moroglu on penalty and Naz Ozdemir from well out on a bounce shot gave Turkiye a 6-3 advantage at the first break. Goals were exchanged in the second period with Turkiye firing in three and South Africa two. Moroglu grabbed two of those and started the third period on extra from the deep right. Amy Aaron, who scored the second and fifth goals for the Africans, netted her third at centre forward, followed by Rylee Rogers’ penalty strike for 10-7 down. Keremoglu traded with Anna Springer and from then on Turkiye put up the shutters and sent home four goals for 15-8 at the final break. Turkiye opened on extra but South Africa dealt a triple blow with Aaron from centre forward; Esme du Plessis from eight metres and Isabella Duffy at centre forward lifting the score to 16-11. Neda Yildiz leapt on to a rebound on extra and sent the ball in while June Stander lobbed off a six-metre throw for 17-12 at 2:31. With the last half-minute looming, South African Motloduwa Makwane went on counter, was fouled and had her shot blocked. She had earned a penalty and the coach asked her to shoot, which she did, for her first goal of the week for 17-13 behind.
Match Heroes
Moroglu and Keremoglu netted five apiece and lift their tallies to 13 and 19 respectively. For South Africa, Aaron was the highest scorer with four. Duffy collected her 10th goal.
Turning Point
Turkiye’s three-goal advantage in the first quarter and the four-goal burst in the third.
Stats Don’t Lie
Turkiye managed only six from 13 on extra and South Africa two from six. Turkiye scored all six penalty attempts to two; won the steals 12-10 and the shooting 53.1 to 43.3 per cent.
Match 34. Group G, BRAZIL 15 MALTA 3 (4-0, 3-1, 4-0, 4-2)
Brazil took a big step toward 13th position with a comfortable victory over Malta. Brazil stamped its authority on the match from the start with a power start that included three goals to star shooter Maiah Nascimento. She came into the match with 15 goals and amassed another six for 21 goals this week. As the match quickly sped to 4-0, Brazil then had one attack where it hit the wood three times. The last time it hit the wood was by goalkeeper Ingrid Goncalves who swam up and bounced the ball into the crossbar just before the buzzer. Nicolly dos Santos grabbed her seventh of the week from right-hand catch to start the second period and 5-0. Marierose Tully broke the Maltese drought from top left for 5-1 at 4:18. Brazil progressed the score to 7-1 at the long break. Dos Santos started the second half with a pair of penalty goals and Nascimento scored from deep right for her fifth strike. At 0:20, Malta sent seven players up and the shot was saved by Goncalves with threw it the length of the pool for a goal and 11-1 at the last break. Dos Santos scored from the top on extra before Martina Grech netted Malta’s second goal with a lob from wide right. Brazil scored twice more. Ella Miceli scored her fifth goal of the week with a 10m skip shot for 14-3 and Nascimento sealed the deal on penalty at 0:16 for the 15-3 margin.
Match Heroes
Brazil’s Nascimento finished with six goals and dos Santos four. The goalkeepers made nine saves with Goncalves six plus her goal. For Malta, Miia Clarke Spiteri made seven of the eight goalkeeper saves.
Turning Point
Brazil keeping Malta scoreless for the first 12 minutes, proved most helpful.
Stats Don’t Lie
Brazil converted three from eight on extra and stopped two; scored all six penalty attempts and saved one; lost the steal nine to five but shot better at 46.9 per cent to 11.1.
Match 35. Group H, ZIMBABWE 8 COLOMBIA 17 (2-2, 4-7, 1-2, 1-6)
Colombia fought out a close match despite the final score. Zimbabwe is learning quickly here and led 2-1 until Salome Agudelo netted the first of her six goals at 2:35 on extra from the top. Katie Gripper converted a penalty foul and Natasha Chaniwa lobbed from wide right for Zimbabwe’s first two goals. Agudelo netted a hat-trick to start the second quarter with the third a centre-forward flick. Chaniwa on penalty and Gripper on counter narrowed the score to 5-4 down. A Colombian pair; Chaniwa’s third, on lob with a traded pair made it 8-6. Laura Atehortua scored her second on extra for 9-6, 11 seconds from halftime. Atehortua and Agudelo straddled a Gripper shot that needed VAR to make sure it crossed the line for the only scores of the third period, such was the defence of both teams. Colombia earned a seven-goal margin with a triple to start the fourth period and that separation decided the result. Tatenda Muhomba was delighted with her first goal of the tournament at centre forward, joining her twin sister Tariro Muhomba as a goal-scorer here. There are three sets of twins playing in this event. Colombia settled the match with the last three goals including Agudelo’s sixth from a six-metre free throw.
Match Heroes
Agudelo with six goals and Atehortua chiming in with four. Goalkeeper Sofia Beltran was on fire with 11 saves for Colombia. Captain Gripper and Chaniwa scored a hat-trick each for Zimbabwe and the goalkeepers claimed four saves each.
Turning Point
Turning around the 2-1 deficit to 5-2 ahead, Colombia then kept its distance and romped home in the second half.
Stats Don’t Lie
Colombia made a magnificent seven from eight on extra to none from one; scored one penalty goal to two; won the steals at 10 to five and the shooting 50-36.4 per cent.
Progress Points
Group G: Turkiye 6, Brazil 6, South Africa 0, Malta 0.
Group H: Germany 6, Serbia 3, Colombia 3, Zimbabwe 0.
Day 6 Schedule
09:00, Group G, Turkiye v Brazil
10:30, Group G, South Africa v Malta
12:00, Group H, Colombia v Serbia
13:30, Group H, Zimbabwe v Germany
Classification 1-8 Quarterfinals
15:00, Greece v Australia
16:30, Hungary v China
18:00, United States of America v Netherlands
19:30, Spain v Canada