Strong! Austria’s U18 women earn a point against top-divi­sion side Hungary

New Finnish U18 Head Coach Arto Sieppi entrusted Kiara Matt with the goaltending duties in Fondo for his debut behind the bench, with Sophia Klaus serving as backup. After an early penalty kill, the Austrians settled well into the game against Hungary, who will compete at the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship in Canada in mid-January 2026, and matched their opponents throughout the first period. Kiara Matt initially kept the favoured neighbours scoreless despite facing seven shots on goal.

However, Hungarian goaltender Emma Majoros was also flawless on seven shots from Austria, and both teams headed to the dressing rooms level at 0:0 after 20 minutes. Csenge Csordas took over in goal for Hungary from the start of the second period. Austria had their first power-play opportunity after just under two and a half minutes, but were unable to make their first numerical advantage count. Hungary were efficient at the other end: shortly after the penalty expired, Liza Görbe scored to make it 1:0 (25.).

Both teams subsequently failed to convert another power play apiece, with the match remaining exciting. Austria’s U18 women continued to put up a strong fight in the second period. Around two minutes before the end of the period, the ÖEHV selection had another power-play opportunity to equalise, but remained narrowly behind 0:1 after 40 minutes. 

Austria had their fourth power play just seconds into the final period, but once again no goal followed. That changed exactly nine seconds after the power play had expired: Artemis Tekin equalised at 1:1 (43.) and brought the game to a thrilling finish early. The match remained fiercely contested. With just under ten minutes remaining, the Austrians also successfully killed off their third penalty, and neither team scored again in regulation time. There was no decision in the five-minute overtime either, so a penalty shootout was needed.

It remained exciting there, too: Britta Bachler for Austria and Helga Tamas for Hungary both scored in the very first round. The decision only came in the final round, when Lara Luca Faragò converted to secure a 2:1 penalty-shootout win for Hungary.

Head Coach Arto Sieppi was pleased with his team’s performance in their first test match: "I am very happy with the overall impression made by our team. We fought very hard; after going 0:1 down and then equalising, we had a few good scoring chances in the third period, and we also had a 5:2 advantage in chances in overtime. It was a close game, a hard battle. We played with almost the entire line-up. This is the international level, and I am pleased that my girls and we have this opportunity to test ourselves here. Now we need to recover well; Germany await us on Friday and we want to play even better!"

The tournament at the ice rink by Lake Smeraldo marks the start of preparations for the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship Division IB, which will take place in Katowice, Poland, from 5 January to 11 January 2026. They continue against their German counterparts on Friday from 16:00, after Germany claimed a commanding 9:0 victory over Italy, before facing Italy on Saturday afternoon from 13:15. The Four Nations Tournament is an agreement between the four nations and will be held until 2026. Italy are the hosts this year, while Hungary will host in 2026.

U18 Women’s Four Nations Tournament (Fondo, Italy)

Austria vs. Hungary 1:2 after penalties (0:0,0:1,1:0,0:0,0:1)
Thu, 28 August 2025, 16:00
Austria scorer: Artemis Tekin (43.)

Further matches:

Germany vs. Austria

Fri, 29 August 2025, 16:00 - >> Italia Hockey live statistics

Austria vs. Italy

Sat, 30 August 2025, 13:15 - >> Italia Hockey live statistics

U18 Women’s squad