The Netherlands are the first confirmed side in the semi-finals of the women’s EuroHockey5s Championship in Walcz with three more spots set to be confirmed on Friday morning.
The Oranje confirmed their place in the final four with wins over Austria and Ukraine with those two nations set to meet on Wednesday to battle for the other semi-final berth.
The Dutch took just 12 seconds to get up and running in their 11-1 win over Austria with Noor de Baat striking straightaway and then Daphne Nikkels put further daylight between the sides a minute later.
Both ended with two goals while Bente van der Veldt completed a hat trick before Isabelle Klausbruckner got a last minute consolation from a challenge.
Against Ukraine, Nikkels and de Baat combined with the former scoring for the Dutch in the fourth minute to set them on their way. They led 4-0 at half-time thanks to a Fay Muijderman deflection and goals from Danique van der Veerdonk and de Baat.
But Ukraine battled well in the second half and got two goals back via Karyna Leonova’s smart touch and a last minute Olha Honcharenko goal in a 5-2 defeat.
And they play a part in Ukraine having an edge on Austria going into their final group game on Wednesday morning on goal difference.
Elsewhere in the group, Austria did beat Sweden 8-1 to record their second victory of the competition with Klausbruckner scoring six times, bringing her tournament total to nine.
Sweden opened the day with their first ever win in this format when they won a well-matched battle with Slovakia 4-2. Nora Thien gave the Swedes a 2-0 lead; Barbora Pucherova responded to make it 2-1 at half-time and the Slovaks were level via Vanessa Čapová.
But Sweden finished stronger with Thien completing her hat trick and Laetitia Schrader made it 4-2.
In Pool B, Türkiye put themselves into contention with an excellent 8-3 win over Wales as they recovered from going 2-0 down in the first three minutes.
Joanne Westwood and Ava Dempsey’s clipped shot had Wales soaring high but a series of excellent strikes – highlighted by Fatma Songül Gültekin, Zeliha Kendir and Perihan Çinar turned things around.
They followed up with a win over Georgia as five goals in the first 10 minutes set them up for a healthy 19-0 success.
Earlier, Switzerland got their second win of the week with a 19-0 victory over the Georgians, Raffaela Triebold scoring six of them. The Swiss are in third place in the group on six points, just behind Türkiye on goal difference.
Poland top the group with three wins from three, meaning they need just a draw from their final group game on Türkiye. That is because they won 7-1 against Wales in the last game of the day with Amelia Katerla getting a hat trick.
Her powerful shot broke the deadlock and then Julia Balcerzak swept in off the left post for 2-0. Paula Slawinska added a third with a close range touch before Wales got one back from Lily Roberts, rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home.
But Poland stormed clear in the second half with Katerla adding two more with Monika Polewczak and Magdalena Pabiniak also cashing in.
All games are being live-streamed on www.eurohockeytv.org
Full results here:
