Koolen closes gap as Den Bosch beat the freeze
Den Bosch closed the gap to the top two in the women’s Hoofdklasse with their 1-0 win over HGC one of just two fixtures to beat the frost over the weekend in the Netherlands.
Sanne Koolen’s flat shot in the final quarter proved the difference as they continued their revival after a slow start to the season.
The game was in doubt due to the frost that had seen SCHC’s game at Kampong and AH&BC Amsterdam’s fixture against Klein Zwitserland postponed but it got the go ahead after some hard work with brooms from volunteers to help make it playable.
Captain Pien Sanders hailed those efforts in conversation with Hockey.nl, saying: “As a player you arrive at the club with your match focus. When you are told that it is still unknown whether or not you will play, it is quite difficult.
“Especially for someone like me. My attention span isn’t the longest! In the end, I thought the decision was made rather late. But I’m glad that we were one of the few major league teams that did play.”
For the most part, Den Bosch had the edge in play but were made to wait until nine minutes from the end for the decisive moment from a penalty corner with Koolen picking the angle for the only goal.
“I felt like that goal was coming,” said captain Sanders. “I think it was a deserved win. I had no thought that we would get a goal against us. I think we played a very nice first half of the season.
“It hasn’t always been easy for us these past few months. Apart from the defeats against SCHC and Amsterdam, we haven’t lost a game. We are in a nice third place. I can only mention how much we have grown in recent weeks. I’m proud of that.”
They now sit level with Amsterdam – albeit with an extra game played – and three points behind leaders SCHC.