Netherlands - France 27:26 (12:10)

The Netherlands won the bronze medal at the 3rd Women´s Youth World Championship in the Dominican Republic. They defeated France 27:26 in the “small final” and were glad about the third place after a long and grueling tournament. In the first half, the two teams suffered from the fatigue after the lost semi-finals of the previous day. The players had to fight hard for every goal. Moreover, no team was able to pull clear of the opponent decisively. Although France led 4:1 (7th) and 10:7 (23rd), the Netherlands always caught up again. The first period ended with a two-goal lead for France (12:10). In the first minutes of the second half, the game remained balanced. But then the Dutch women achieved their first three-goal lead 17:14 (38th), and until the 46th minute they were able to extend their lead to five goals (23:18). But thanks to five goals in a row and some brilliant saves of their goalie, the French team achieved the draw in the 54th minute. The match was again completely open and exciting until the very last minute. It was only when Angela Malestein scored the 27:25 for the Netherlands 25 seconds before the end that the match was decided. The best scorers of the match were Estevana Polman from the Netherlands (ten goals) and Audrey Bruneau from France (six goals).