Sweden's Valentine Wallner "impressed" with Japan

Sweden goaltender Valentine Wallner has said that she was "impressed" with Japan's performance during the sides' Group B clash at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Jenni Asserholt scored the only goal for the European team in the opening period as they won 1-0, while Wallner had to stop 19 shots during the match.

"They had one shot that hit the post, but I knew it would hit it," the Japan Times quotes her saying. "That's goaltender's intuition.

"It was a special game for me as I've never played Japan before. I was impressed by them."

In the other Group B game on Sunday, Russia defeated Germany 4-1.