Report and photos from John Coxon
Amsterdam Ladies , fresh from their triumph during the Eurohockey Club Cup winners cup last month at Bowdon have been crowned champions in the Dutch Hoofdklasse play offs for a place in the 2010 European Cup. This is their first national title since 1992.
 |
Back in April Amsterdam had two tough semi- final legs against local rivals Laren beating them in the first leg and then the second at home in the Wegner Stadium. The result , on paper at least, should have been a forgone conclusion but local Derby’s between these two attack-minded teams are always hard fought and can go either way. The crunch semi final game, in bright sunshine showed the sheer class of the Hoofdklasse standard of play and on the final whistle the score was tied 1-1. Seven minutes each way of extra time could not break the stalemate. That meant flicks, aptly named “strafballen” in Dutch. A miss from Laren’s Julia Muller and Tina Bachman plus a fine stop from Flortje Engels against Wieke Dijkstra sealed it with a nail biting 4-3 win.
In the first of three tough legs of the finals against Den Bosch, Amsterdam came out with a 2-1 win. In the second, Den Bosch again put the Amsterdam Dames under pressure for most of the game with fast attacking play from both and took the game to a tight 1-0 victory so all to play for in the final leg .
In the final leg Amsterdam were under constant pressure in the first half with only the goal bar stopping a Den Bosch strike on 20 minutes. Maartje Paumen finally put Den Bosch ahead on 26 mins. Amsterdam came out stronger in the second half with Kelly Jonkers finally levelling the score on 43 minutes. Three minutes later she netted a second. The victory brought to an end a string of eleven titles in a row for Den Bosch.
Following the final it was announced that Amsterdam’s Kiki Collot d'Escury, Elsemiek Groen , Kitty van Male, Jackie Schoenaker ,Kelly Jonker have been selected for the national under 21s squad as have Den Bosch players Charlotte Bech ,Juliette Hentenaar, Emilie Mol,Eline Verhagen. Laren will contribute Willemijn Bos and Lotte Sluiter.
