Sports: The Dutch women are FIH Pro League champions for third time in a row

With three games still left, the hosts, the Netherlands, already have the FIH Pro League champions for women title under its belt.

After a fierce battle for supremacy, the Dutch defeated Germany 2-1 in Amsterdam on Monday to take its points tally to 37 and beyond the reach of any other team in the competition.

In the earlier men’s match, the head-to-head battle between Germany and New Zealand ended with a 4-1 score line in favour of the world champions. However, that wasn’t entirely reflective of the hard-fought encounter.

It was once again a solid performance from the already-relegated Black Sticks, but one that ultimately yielded no points for the already-relegated side. The Germans were awarded a penalty stroke within the first three minutes after the ball struck David Brydon’s body in front of goal. Timm Herzbruch made no mistake in firing it into the back of the net for the early lead.

It wasn’t until the third quarter that the Germans doubled that lead – Gonzalo Peillat delivering a formidable drag into the bottom left off a penalty corner. Four minutes later the Black Sticks found their first. Sam Hiha received a long aerial pass just outside the circle and worked his way in to pass to captain Sam Lane who drilled it towards goal. Hiha was by then perfectly placed to add the deflection and claw one back.

NZ coach Greg Nicol pulled off his keeper with just over five minutes remaining to push for the equaliser. But it all went wrong when a looping pass found Herzbruch on the run. The first-quarter goal scorer raced towards the empty goal to tap in Germany’s third. Peillat then plugged in the fourth off a penalty corner awarded with nine seconds remaining on the clock as the Germans wrapped up the 4-1 win.

Gonzalo Peillat was named Player of the Match and said: “Of course it wasn’t an easy one. We played better than the last time we played against them. We started in a good way and with a good flow but in the second quarter we didn’t play as we normally play so it was quite difficult but in the end, we got the result.”

With the tournament title just one win away, the Dutch women dominated the first quarter, but there weren’t too many scoring opportunities created. A much more lively second period from the Germans saw them upping the intensity and playing themselves back into the match, but neither side found the breakthrough with the score still 0-0 at half-time.

The home side exerted more of the pressure in the third quarter and they were duly rewarded with a penalty corner with just 23 seconds remaining in the period. Yibbi Jansen’s initial drag was saved by keeper Noelle Rother, but an incredible reflex response from Pien Sanders saw her get her stick to the rebound for a deserved Dutch goal.

With just over five minutes remaining, the Netherlands took a step closer to the trophy when Joosje Burg worked the ball to Pien Dicke to pop it in from just in front of goal. The Germans did manage to pull one back in the dying minute, Viktoria Huse squeezing it through the keeper off a reworked penalty corner. But it was not enough to deny the dominant Dutch the victory.

Pien Sanders was named Player of the Match and said: “I am very proud. This is our first prize under Paul [van Ass] and we are very happy with it… It was not easy. It was a really hard fight but in the end I think we deserved to win.

Prabhjot Singh