Azerbaijan 2, Austria 1
Azerbaijan earned its second win in as many outings thanks to a 2-1 win against Austria. The loss leaves Austria still looking for its first win at the Hockey World League Round 2 event in Cape Town, South Africa, while Azerbaijan remains in the hunt for one of the two qualification places to Round 3.

Early on, it looked like Azerbaijan would earn a hefty victory after Lyubov Druzhinina marched down field on the first possession and easily scored. The goal served as a wake-up call to the Austrians, especially goalkeeper Karin Stiefelmeyer, who made several acrobatic saves after the initial strike to keep Azerbaijan silent for awhile.

There was little that Stiefelmeyer could do to prevent the 2-0 goal from Farida Mammadova in the waning minutes of the first half. Mammadova had a great second effort to give Azerbaijan the 2-0 lead. It was her third goal of the tournament.

Austria continued to get stronger as the game wore on and was rewarded for their efforts 11 minutes into the second half when Rafaela Rubas netted the team’s first goal of the tournament to make it a one-goal game. But despite some solid chances on both ends, the score stayed 2-1 through the final horn and Azerbaijan picked up the three points for the win.