Italy struggles bravely against the favourites

23rd August, EHC in Mönchengladbach, Women: Netherlands - Italy 5:1 (2:1)

23.08.2011 - In the last game of the women's preliminary round at the GANT Euro Hockey Championships 2011, title favorite Netherlands secured the second place in group A by a clear 5:1 (2:1) victory against promoted Italy and now meets England in the semi final, who finished first at pool B.

In a very one-sided game the team of coach Max Caldas could try out some things for the upcoming play-offs and a little bit of frustration overcoming from the surprising 0:1 defeat to Spain. After Maartje Paumen and Naomi van As had scored for the dutch team, it was Evelina Tiralonga who cut down the score to 1:2 just before the halftime whistle.

But the defending champion directly put big pressure on the Italian defense after the break and therefore created a huge number of scoring chances. Two of them were used by Kim Lammers with a backhand shot and again Paumen with a short corner. The final score resulted from a great shot by Sabine Mol, who had received a nice 40 meters pass from Willemijn Bos.

Goals:

1:0 Maartje Paumen (KE, 20.)

2:0 Naomi van As (23.)

2:1 Evelina Titalonga (KE, 35.)

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3:1 Kim Lammers (47.)

4:1 Maartje Paumen (KE, 56.)

5:1 Sabine Mol (68.)

Penalty Corners:

NED 5 (2 Tore) / ITA 2 (1 Tor)

Umpires:

Duncan / Del Olmo