Ukraine were emotional winners of the bronze medal with a 1-0 success over Austria with just Oksana Ponomarenko’s 39th minute goal separating the teams.
It was a titanic battle with two well organised defences offering up very few chances. Austria got the only corners of the match in the first half but could not get through the defences of Alina Fadieieva.
Stella van Rahden matched those efforts with a slick glove-save in the third quarter as the game started to open up. Miriam Gëro drew the best from Fadieieva while Yuliia Shevchenko shot just wide in Q3.
It kept it scoreless going into the last phase where Olha Honcharenko hit the post with a backhand shot and Shevchenko once again was centimetres from breaking the deadlock.
As it was, the vital goal arrived when Yevheniia Moroz fired a ball down the right board to Honcharenko. She squared perfectly for Ponomarenko to sweep into an open goal.
Speaking afterwards, Moroz said: “We are really excited, really happy - we were not just playing for a medal today but also for the Ukranian people. Most of our team doesn’t have a European medal like this so it’s a really big deal for us.
“We didn’t expect so many people to be supporting us like that. It was such a fantastic atmosphere so thank you to everyone.”
The Czech Republic closed out their campaign with a strong 5-0 win over Türkiye, taking fifth place with the Turks first ever participation at this level ending in sixth spot.
Lucie Duchková’s shot from the right edge of the circle started the ball rolling and was added to by one from Adela Lehovcova in the second quarter. Duchková matched that with another set piece goal in Q3 before Nikol Babicka’s intercept and finish in the circle and a Anna Vorlova effort completed the win.
For the Czechs, it meant a strong finish to the campaign with their best performance with the youthful Duchková and Natálie Hájková showing they are ones to watch for the future.
Türkiye can reflect on a big learning experience. Three times, they were within one goal of a result but could not convert those moments into tangible outcomes.
Nonetheless, Perihan Çinar’s six goals and the skills of Fatma Songül Gültekin were a joy to behold throughout the week.
