Tie against Sweden wins the U19 EFT for Finland

Finland surprisngly turned up victorious in U19 EuroFloorball Tour when they achieved a tie against World Champions Sweden in the girls' final game. For the icing on the cake, My Kippilä's skillful goal gave Finland the extra point in the penalty shootout.

In the first period, Sweden took the lead but My Kippilä brought the Finns abreast scoring off a rebound from Juulia Lintula's shot. Sweden seemed to pull away as Nathalie Jakobsson scored after a Swedish free hit with only 17 seconds to go in the first period and her succesful forechecking in the second freed Evelina Sparf in front of the Finnish goal for their third.

Yet in the second period, Finland pulled their act together while Sweden eased up a bit and Mari Alila scored with Mira Wickman giving the well-timed pass at a 3-on-2 attack. In the middle of the period, Wickman dropped the ball back to defender Laura Manninen whose shot from the distance found its way in the top left corner. Finland's goal also turned out to be the last of the night. Sweden pressed on in the third but was unable to score. Their best chance was denied by Finnish goalie Noora Vuorela whose spectacular hand save stopped a direct shot from close range. With two minutes to go, Sweden took a time-out and pulled their goalie but it was Finland who got closer to scoring with the Swedish net open.

In the penalty shootout, all six shooters were stopped or missed the net. On the fourth pair, Sweden's Matilda Sjödin missed and Finland's My Kippilä gave the 1,465 audience reason to cheer when she took the ball on the blade of her stick and carried it into the net.

Match summary

Photos