The women’s American football national team of Finland started their European Championship series with a loss. Spain managed to surprise the pre-tournament favorites, the Finns, with a score of 0-12 (0-0) at Myyrmäki Football Stadium on Saturday.

The Spaniards secured their second historic tournament victory on Saturday by defeating Finland, thanks to their strong passing offense.

After a closely contested first half, Spain’s quarterback, Victoria Valverde, succeeded in a long touchdown pass to Olga Sotillo in the third quarter. Sotillo, in turn, threw her team’s second touchdown by connecting with Allison Rodriguez on a 22-yard pass. Spain’s quarterback Valverde managed to connect with her wide receiver ten times out of 24 attempts, accumulating a total of 168 yards. The standout performer for Spain on the field was Sotillo, who, with 7 receptions, advanced 158 yards.

Finland fielded 20 debutants on Saturday and struggled to get their offense rolling as expected. Spain successfully contained the highly praised Finnish running game to only 73 yards. Suvi Väisänen gained the most rushing yards for Finland, advancing 29 yards with four attempts. Tytti Kuusinen was closely guarded by the Spanish defense, and despite her 11 rushing attempts, she accumulated 20 yards. One contributing factor to the poor result was the unfavorable field positions that the Finns repeatedly faced in their offensive efforts.

Finland’s defense performed well in defending against running plays, allowing only 7 yards for Spain. However, the visitors effectively capitalized on their successful long passes. The standout player for Finland was veteran wide receiver Kirsti Nirhamo, who collected the most impressive yards gained (64) with five receptions on Saturday night.

Finland’s defense’s most active tackler on Saturday was Anni Alanko, who recorded 6.5 stops in the game. Most frequently behind the opponent’s line of scrimmage was Oona Tuomi, whose 3.5 statistical entries all occurred on the favorable side of the ball. Tuomi also claimed Finland’s only interception in the game.

Saturday’s result is not what was expected. Spain was considered the weakest team in the European Championship series pre-tournament, but the team, which had been away from international games for a long time, had managed to field a winning lineup that proved deadly for Finland in the passing game at Myyrmäki.

Finland’s European Championship games will continue at the end of August with an away match against Sweden.

Stats & data  : 27.5.2023 18:00 Suomi – Espanja, Maajoukkue – naiset – Jenkkifutis tulospalvelu

Photo credit:  Jari Turunen