Estonia Downs Australia to Get First Tournament Win – 01.12.2018

Six goals scored in the second period pushed Estonia towards their first victory in Prague, beating Australia 11–5. Sandra Zurbuchen and Corina Wehinger led the game as first women-referees in the history of men’s floorball championships.

The opening match of group C first seemed to be a tight battle. The Estonians were slightly more dangerous from the first minutes but the Australian goalie Ryan Alexandrakis made a few good saves. Once the first goal by Estonian Mattias Proos was scored, a strong offensive performance started. The European team added two more to make it 3–1 after twenty minutes.

Australia burst into the second period in style. Daniel Gartner scored twice within two minutes and twenty seconds, tied the game and completed the first hat-trick of the championship. The wild start of the period continued as Estonia answered quickly and scored their fourth goal, but Australia leveled the score again to make it it 4–4 just twenty seconds later. In the end, Estonia put the Australians under pressure, scored five goals in the rest of the second period and went up to 9–4. 

The Estonians controlled the final twenty minutes as well, scored two more goals and didn’t let their opponent get much closer. However, it was the Australian team who made the very last score change thirty seven seconds before the end and set the final result at 11–5.