Netherlands were crowned FIH Junior Women's Hockey World Cup champions after defeating Germany 3-1 in the final.
Coming into the final, Netherlands had scored 46 goals and conceded none. Germany, by contrast, had lost a pool match but had used that as a springboard to get better with every game. The question was whether the German side had what it takes to breach the Dutch defence.
The need to find a way to score against Netherlands increased when Danique van der Veerdonk sent a magnificent drag flick penalty corner past Mali Wichmann in the German goal. The goal came after a sustained period of pressure by the team in orange on the German defence.
As the half counted down, the German resistance paid off and they started to make in-roads of their own. And finally, Germany's persistence paid off as Sophia Schwabe levelled the score. This followed a period of confident and aggressive hockey from the German players.
The scores remained even for two minutes before Tessa Beetsma was able to restore her team's lead. Maria Steensma worked the ball down the baseline and slipped it goalwards. Beetsma needed no second invite to flick it home.
It was Beetsma again just 10 minutes later. The ever-excellent Noor Omrani ran down the baseline and her cross found Beetsma waiting in the circle. Not even Wichmann could stop the sharp shooter from scoring her second and Netherlands' third.
In the final quarter, Germany threw absolutely everything at the Netherlands but the entire team in orange dug deep and defended as well as they attacked. It was a final with class written all over it, but in the end, there was only really one winner.
( With inputs from ANI )
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