Women’s U19s ranked 13th in the world rankings after successful World Floorball Championship

He pānui pāpāho | News release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Zealand Women’s U19s have just wrapped up an exciting and successful World Floorball Championship campaign in Lahti, Finland - including a historic win over trans-Tasman neighbour Australia.

The Kiwi girls opened the tournament with a 5-3 loss to Singapore, clawing back a 3-0 deficit after a slow start to the game before conceding a late empty net goal and just falling short.

The girls bounced back strongly on Day 2 with a tenacious and inspiring performance against Germany, ranked 9th in the world. The Kiwis gave the Germans all they could handle, and were only down 2-1 in the third before conceding a late goal to go down 3-1. With a raucous crowd of travelling supporters cheering them on, the girls were all smiles after the game, and they took that momentum with them for the key clash with the Aussies on Friday.

Confidence was high going into the game, and the Kiwi girls delighted their fans in the stands, in Aotearoa and around the world by delivering a dominating and comprehensive victory over the Australians, winning 10-3. The victory marks the first ever win over Australia by a Kiwi floorball team in any age group in international competition.

Buoyed by the win over the Aussies, the girls went into their final playoff match against 10th ranked Hungary expecting great things. Down 2-0 to the Europeans after one period, the Kiwis brought on the offence, scoring five unanswered 2nd period goals and another early in the 3rd to go up 6-2. The Hungarians fought back hard, tying the game 6-6 in the third, before the girls responded with two more. In the final minute of the game, the girls were tested in their defence with one of our players in the penalty box while holding back a six-player team with the Hungarian goalkeeper off. They hung on to win by a score of 8-6.

With their two wins, the NZ Women’s U19s finished 5th in the B pool, for an overall world ranking of 13th.

The girls and the hard-working coaching and support staff will return to NZ justifiably proud of a great achievement in Finland in 2024.