GB Women miss out on medal, but earn praise

COACH Mike Clancy says Great Britain’s Women proved they could play at Division 1 Group B level, despite missing out on a medal at the World Championships in Riga.

A 3-2 defeat to hosts Latvia on the final day meant GB finished fourth with two wins from their five games.

GB and Latvia went into the game tied on seven points, each looking to eclipse Italy (nine points) and take a silver medal. Slovakia had earlier secured gold with four wins from their five games.

“I can’t fault the effort of anyone,” said head coach Clancy. “They gave absolutely everything and stuck to our systems throughout.

“Sometimes you don’t get the bounces or the rub of the green. But we’ve shown we can compete in this division and will use this as a learning experience – as we did after Korea – to come back stronger again next year.”

Britain started well and Lizzie Saunders scored her first senior goal just over two minutes in with Casey Traill and Steph Towns getting the assists, although Latvia equalised when Emilija Jakovleva scored on the power play.

The hosts took the lead in the 34th minute through a penalty shot from Liga Miljone, but it took GB less than a minute to respond, though, Jodie Alderson-Smith and Charlotte Harris setting up Katie Marsden to score her second goal of the week.

Latvia took advantage of a power play with Linda Rulle’s shot from the right-circle finding the top corner at 43.50.

Further special teams play followed and GB outshot Latvia 21-7 in the final period as they pressed for an equaliser, but it wasn’t to be.