(Photo: © FIH / Barrie Dunkley)

Netherlands is the new BDO Junior World Cup Champion. The Dutch formation defeated Argentina in the final (3-0) in Boston, USA. Korea claimed the bronze after defeating England (2-1).

With the victory, Netherlands proved again to be the best women’s hockey country in the World. After the senior team became World Champion in 2006 and grabbed the Olympic Gold in 2008, the junior squad of Netherlands is now the best in the world.

Living up to their traditional hockey greatness, the gold medal match between Argentina and the Netherlands was a battle. The first half of play between Argentina and the Netherlands was very even; with each having few attacking opportunities, let alone scoring chances. Finally, the Netherlands’ got on the board first off a penalty corner goal by Willemijn Bos. Argentina tried to come back, but the Netherlands’ Caia van Maasakker (6 goals) made that difficult using her classic drag flick to net two penalty corner goals in the 61st and 66th minutes of the match. Thus, it was nearly impossible for Argentina to recover from a three-goal deficit in the final four minutes of play. This is the second time Netherlands has won the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup; the first was in 1997 in Korea. Argentina also finished second in 2001 when the Junior World Cup was held in their country. Both teams outdid their 2005 Chile junior world cup placing as Netherlands finished third and Argentina, fifth. 

In the bronze medal match, England and the past two-time defending BDO Junior World Cup champions, Korea, met. As expected, the match between England and Korea was full of hard fought back and forth play, with either team unable to generate many scoring chances. As a result, the first half ended scoreless. Korea struck first in the 44th minute off a Seul Ki Cheon (7 goals) penalty corner, putting Korea ahead of England 1-0. In the 52nd minute, England’s Jenny Hall also scored on a penalty corner making it a 1-1 draw.

Six minutes later, Korea took the lead again (2-1) with a field goal by Dayoung Kim. In the end, Korea prevailed 2-1 over England to take bronze in the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup; England’s fourth place finish is their best ever in a BDO Junior World Cup.

In the first game of the day, Australia and Germany played to decide the 5th and 6th place finishes. In the first half, Australia took a 3-0 lead over Germany, coming off penalty corner goals by Kate Jenner and Jill Dwyer; and a field goal by Emily Hurtz in the 31st minute. Germany’s Celine Wilde scored in the 34th minute, making the halftime score 3-1. In the 47th minute, Germany cut Australia’s lead to 3-2 off an Eva Frank field goal. Yet, one minute later, Jill Dwyer added another to make it 4-2. In the 56th minute, Emily Hurtz netted her second goal of the match to make it 5-2 and firmly secured Australia’s fifth place finish in the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup; while Germany finished in sixth.

Following her spectacular five goal performance in the 7th/8th place match, China’s Yudiao Zhao finished out the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup as the top goal scorer of the tournament. England’s starting keeper Gemma Ible helped lead her team to its best ever BDO Junior World Cup finish and she was awarded keeper of the tournament. Team South Africa received the fair-play award for the 2009 BDO Junior World Cup.

Results BDO Junior World Cup 16 August 2009:

Final:
Netherlands-Argentina 3:0 (0:0)

Bronze medal match:
Korea-England 2:1 (0:0)

Classification 5-6:
Australia-Germany 5:2 (3:1)

Final Ranking:

  1. Netherlands
  2. Argentina
  3. Korea
  4. England
  5. Australia
  6. Germany
  7. China
  8. USA
  9. India
  10. New Zealand
  11. South Africa
  12. Chile
  13. Spain
  14. France
  15. Belarus
  16. Lithuania

Individual Awards
Top Goalscorer: Yudiao ZHAO (CHN)
Best Player: Emilie MOL (NED)
Best Goalkeeper: Gemma IBLE (ENG)
Fair Play Trophy: South Africa