Great Britain suffered late heartache in Riga as Poland came from behind to win 3-2 after overtime in the Women’s World Championship Division 1 Group B.
Building on Sunday’s opening win over Italy, GB were 2-0 ahead at the end of the first period against last year’s silver medalists.
Abbie Sylvester’s bomb from the blue line opened the scoring and her own GB account in the fourth minute, assisted by Aimee Headland and Katherine Gale. Forward Laura Horwood – on her birthday – also bagged her first GB goal in just her second game, scoring from close range at 17.49 with the helper from captain Jodie Alderson-Smith. The roles had been reversed 24 hours earlier as Jodie potted the GWG against Italy.
Poland started the middle period brightly and scored their first goal in the 26th minute. A 3-on-2 break left Tetiana Onyschenko alone between the circles and she beat Nicole Jackson in the GB net to reduce the arrears. GB weathered more Poland pressure but then regained their composure and made goalie Martyna Sass work hard in the Poland net to keep the score at 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Although Poland had 11-6 shot advantage in the third period, GB’s team defence kept the chances mainly to the outside, and time was running down towards the final buzzer.
However just 59 seconds from the end of regulation, GB’s Katie Marsden was called for hooking – only the second penalty of the entire game. Poland called timeout and also left goalie Sass on the bench to create a six on four advantage. GB cleared the zone a couple of times but Poland were relentless until finally Olivia Tomczok was alone beside the net and tapped into the space for the game-tying goal with just 21 seconds on the clock.
With a point secured at 60 minutes, the sides played 3-on-3 overtime and after surviving a couple of GB chances, Poland forced a turnover and Wiktoria Dziwok beat Nicole Jackson to take the extra point for Poland at 61.23.
Abbie Sylvester was named GB’s player of the game.
Assistant coach Sean Alderson said: “It was a tough way to lose, but at this level it’s all about small margins. We made probably two mistakes all game and they cost us.
“That said, four points from our opening two games is a really good return and we are on target for our points goal which the team had at the start of the week. Wednesday against Slovakia will be really tough but the final games shouldn’t hold any fears for us.”
Tuesday is a rest day as far as games are concerned, Great Britain return to action against top seeds Slovakia on Wednesday 12.30 local (10.30am UK time).
Women’s World Championship Division I Group B – Great Britain results & schedule
Sunday 31st March: Great Britain v Italy – W 1-0 (Alderson-Smith 1+0, Marsden & Horwood 0+1; Jackson 44 saves)
Monday 1st April: Poland v Great Britain – L 2-3 (OT) (Sylvester & Horwood 1+0, Headland, Gale, Alderson-Smith 0+1; Jackson 26 saves)
Wednesday 3rd April: Slovakia v Great Britain – 12:30 (10:30)
Friday 5th April: Slovenia v Great Britain – 16:00 (14:00)
Saturday 6th April: Great Britain v Latvia – 19:30 (17:30)
Photo credit: Karl Denham
