Spectacular semifinals at BDO Junior World Cup

(Photo: © FIH / Barrie Dunkley)

The semifinals of the 2009 BDO Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup get underway in Boston, USA on Friday when Netherlands meet Korea and England will face Argentina.

With their narrow 1-0 win over Germany on the last day of pool play, Netherlands secured the top spot in pool F; and will play Korea, who holds the second spot in pool E. Defending Champion Korea, while having the same number of points as Australia in pool E, laid claim to the second pool E spot based on goal differential. After holding onto a 1-1 draw with Australia, England assured the top spot in pool E and will face Argentina in the second semi-final match; Argentina reached the second spot in pool F with their 4-2 win over China.

How they reached the semi-finals:

Semi-final #1: Netherlands-Korea

After going up 1-0 over New Zealand in the first half of their first match, Netherlands appeared to be on track to follow their winning ways. Yet, New Zealand’s Katie Glynn proved Netherlands otherwise to lead her team to a 3-1 upset. Perhaps, this first match loss was the humbling motivation Netherlands needed to light up the fiery orange for the rest of the tournament. The Netherlands would go on to defeat the rest of their opponents (2:1 Chile, 5:0 Spain, 2:1 Argentina, 1:0 Germany) to earn their top pool F spot. Kelly Jonker lead Netherlands (6 goals), but Caia van Maasakker (4 goals), Emilie Mol, and the promising young attacker Willemijn Willemse also helped.

Korea sailed through its first BDO Junior World Cup match with a 6-1 win over Chile. Key to Korea’s success in their next tournament matches were two things: 1) the ability to score within the last three minutes of the match and 2) Seul Ki Cheon (6 goals); which lead to a 2-2 draw with England, a 4-1 win over France, a 2-1 win over the USA, a 4-2 loss to Australia, and a 3-2 win over India.

Semi-final #2: England-Argentina

Like Korea, England got off to a smooth tournament start with a 5-0 win over France. After their 2-2 draw with Korea, England posted wins over Chile (2-0), India (1-0), and the USA (3-2). Their last match was an especially hard fought battle with Australia, but the 1-1 draw ended up being enough for England to secure the top spot in pool E. England’s success came from their versatility (six players with two goals a piece) and a solid keeper in Gemma Ible.

Last, but not least in the BDO Junior World Cup semi-finals is Argentina. Like the Netherlands, Argentina also lost their first match of the tournament to Germany (1:2) in what many thought was a preview of the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup final to come. This was not meant to be, however, as Argentina ultimately won more tournament matches than Germany; getting big wins over Lithuania (4:0), South Africa (5:0), New Zealand (5:3), and China (4:2). Leading the charge for Argentina was Delfina Merino who has scored a goal in every match except for their last against China. While Argentina showed that they have a knack for scoring, especially in the final minutes of a match, like Korea, their 2-1 loss to the Netherlands lingers in the background.

Out of the four semifinalists, Korea has been the most successful country at any Women’s Junior World Cup.

In the Junior World Cup history, Korea won 32 matches, scored 161 goals and won World Cup twice in a row.

See below the statistics of B. G. Joshi.