WFCQ 2019: Slovakia - Hungary 12:1 (3:0, 5:1, 4:0)

After Slovakia had quite some trouble with the Netherlands the day before, the neighborhood battle between the hosts and the Hungarians felt to have some potential for a good match. The winner would more or less safely travel to Switzerland (no more or less in case of the Slovaks), so we had a perfect matchup of a direct playoff. The arena was full and there were even quite some spectators from Hungary. At least you could expect a closer match than in the Russia vs. Finland battle before.

There is a designated full ,size picture gallery for this match.

Slovakia vs. Hungary – Match Report

In the first minutes of play, I could hardly imagine that the Slovaks had nominated the same team as the day before. They played quick, physical and with massive pressure on Reka Mozes, you took care of the ultimate Hungarian defense line. Kristina Hudakova made the crowd cheer after two minutes. Hungary was trying to keep their defense and block the stormy attacks, but Slovakia was overwhelming in that time. They hit the crossbar after five minutes.

Nicole Vertesi had the first Hungarian opportunity after seven minutes – this was the only Hungarian shot on goal in the whole period. The guests now had some time, at least, in the opponent’s half of the rink, but overall, their offense was too weak, very often just hoping for long ball fast breaks. Mozes seemed to do a massive save after thirteen minutes against Kristina Belicova, but the Hungarian goalie was unlucky that she just slowed down the ball instead of blocking it. The 2-0 was well deserved as well as the Slovak third goal scored by Alexandra Faktorova in the 15th minute. 17:1 shots after twenty minutes – the 3:0 intermission score even felt quite close regarding the story of the match so far.

Slovaks on Fire – Penalty Shot Goal by Dora Szalai

Hungary was definitely stronger in the second period – but after the disastrous first period, that was maybe comparably easy. Slovakia still did better in both disciplines, offense and defense and blew a hurricane towards Fanni Marton, who tried to be luckier than Mozes now. Slovakia took their chances in this period – five out of ten shots lead to goals, amongst them lucky situations like the 4-0 goal, when Michaela Sponiarova kicked the ball over the line, but the refs decided that there was no intention. Especially after the 30th minute, when the Slovaks already lead by five goals, they again played their confident game. Hungary’s only score was by Dora Szalai, who converted a 37th minute penalty shot. The score after fourty minutes was 8:1, though, at that time and in the intermission break.

Three-period Slovak Party in Trencin

Though Hungary was a bit more active in the third period, the young team kept on struggling with the match and even wasted a two-man-advantage late in the match. The goals were scored by the Slovakians again, who added four one to the count. Three goals within some three minutes by Klapitova (2) and Viktoria Grossova between the 44th and 47th minute were too tough for the Hungarian coaches. They sent Karolina Babusa in the net and thereby used all three nominated goalie. Babusa at least kept the score closer and allowed just one more Grossova goal (56th) out of nine shots on goal. Slovakia finally beat Hungary 12:1 and gave their opponents nightmares likely. Nevertheless, Hungary still has some chances to travel to Neuchatel, which leads to an interesting matchup for Sunday.

Slovakia vs. Hungary – My View of the Match

Slovakia gave a great comeback in this match. I did not expect them to be that strong after their first match performance was not that pleasing. Hungary was just overwhelmed but the Slovak rush and especially struggled in offense. Too many Hungarian plays were killed early, mostly in their own half. That shows how hard it is to develop these skills in a development league like the Hungarian women’s league. Slovakia’s victory gave the hosts the ticket to Neuchatel as well as Latvia, regardless of the score of the match against each other on final day. The Hungarian chances now also depend on the results of the other teams before facing the Netherlands.

Slovakia vs. Hungary – Lineups

Slovakia: 91 Jana Dupcakova, 31 Pavlina Farulova – 2 Alzbeta Durikova, 3 Sarka Bolova, 6 Lenka Dobrodejova, 8 Alexandra Faktorova, 10 Denisa Ferencikova, 12 Katarina Klapitova, 15 Lenka Lencesova, 19 Katarina Marcinkova, 24 Lucia Jelinkova, 26 Jana Troskova, 30 Paulina Hudakova, 39 Lenka Cuprakova, 48 Michaela Sporniarova, 71 Kristina Belicova, 73 Viktoria Grossova, 75 Klaudia Robova, 81 Klara Grossova, 88 Kristina Hudakova

Hungary: 1 Reka Mozes, 11 Fanni Marton, 27 Karolina Babusa – 2 Zora Elek, 3 Emese Bodocs, 4 Anna Takacs, 5 Dora Szalai, 6 Kitti Padar, 8 Orsolya Stipcisz, 9 Nicole Vertesi, 10 Eszter Gonczi, 13 Vivien Farkasne Varadi, 14 Anna Tenyi, 15 Blanka Benyo, 17 Kinga Orovecz, 19 Aliz Zsamboki, 20 Petra Magyar, 21 Dora Veres, 24 Zsofia Petri, 25 Nora Lelovics