Great Defense Gives Australia First Tournament Win over Poland – 03.12.2018

Australia took advantage of their great supporters and won 4-2 against Poland. The game at Arena Sparta was rather cautious, but the players from down under showed magnificent defensive skills and secured their first tournament win.

Both Australia and Poland felt the importance of the game at Arena Sparta. In general, the spectators saw a very cautious 1st period with almost no mistakes. The only one made by the Aussies resulted in a Polish break-away chance, but the Australian goalkeeper Ryan Alexandrakis made an incredible stop to save his clean sheet for a while. The first goal of the game came on the other end of the rink. With 17:49 on the clock, Australia was awarded a penalty shot. Tomas Gartner showed his class and converted it using a smart deke.

The Antipodes increased their margin at the very beginning of the 25th minute. At 24:01, Liam Perry netted his second goal of the tournament with the help of Daniel Gartner’s slick pass. For some time it looked like it was impossible to beat the Australian goalkeeper Ryan Alexandrakis. He lost his magic just ten seconds before the second intermission when Michal Sienko reduced the gap with a long-range effort.

During their last encounter, Poland drew with Australia 4-4 at the WFC 2016 in Latvia. This time, the odds were in the Aussies’ favor. Their third goal came in the 47th minute and it was an extremely important one – Kade Ebeling netted a short-handed goal to make it 3-1 for his team. Australia then conceded a second goal, but a late empty-netter by Carl Hammerlund sealed the 4-2 victory for his side.