All season, Breda was struggling against relegation. The team narrowly missed the play-outs. The women from Brabant crawled through the eye of the needle again. After two 0-0 games, a blood-curdling shoot-out series had to decide. The 20-year-old Flemish goalkeeper Yanouck Broeckx claimed a leading role by stopping no less than five shoot-outs.
As if the world title had just been won. All of Breda stormed towards Broeckx after Jette Biemans (main photo) finally brought redemption for Breda. As in the regular playing time of both games, both teams had extreme difficulty scoring during the shoot-outs. The first eight attempts yielded – also thanks to the outstanding goalkeepers – no goals.
When Broeckx had stopped a shoot-out for the fourth time in a row, he managed to secure enforcement. And that caused – understandably – an unprecedented release on the Breda side. While the players mostly sought each other out, coach Karel Alferink collected a giant Breda flag from the dozens of blue-colored supporters who had traveled to the Gooi area. Even their youngest fan, the son of player Marijke Verberne, celebrated among the overjoyed players.
‘It may sound crazy, but this feels better than our championship last year,’ beamed Broeckx a moment later with a beer in her hand. ‘Then we knew long beforehand that we couldn’t be overtaken. Now there was tension until the very last second. The whole season we knew it was all about this moment. And then to manage to hold on in this way is really great.
Yanoeck Broeckx was almost unbeatable the past two games against Gooische. Photo: Bart Scheuderman
The story of this season
Breda balanced on the edge of the abyss several times this season, Alferink also realized. ‘Each time we played a final. Had we not won against MOP a few weeks ago, it would have been over. The same went for our games against Leiden, Push, Schaerweijde and of course the last game against Groningen. Just like now, we only scored the decisive goal in the last ten seconds that kept us from direct relegation. Apparently that is our story this season.’
In addition to Broeckx, Yentl Leemans – as so often at Breda – excelled. The former youth international regularly outplayed the Gooi defense and was everywhere. For a player who can easily handle big league level, the retention was a big relief.
Yentl Leemans was also of great value for Breda this weekend. Photo: Bart Scheulderman
‘We didn’t have a grip on the game today,’ Leemans stated. ‘Very unfortunate, because right now we wanted so badly to show what we can do. That we belong in the Promotion Class. We made it unnecessarily exciting. But the fact that we succeeded is so nice. It is wonderful to play in this league. You are challenged and the teams are very close together in terms of level. That is really different than in the ‘Overgangsklasse’.’
And that’s not the only thing according to Leemans: ‘For Breda this is very special. We come from far away. I think even from the First Division. It is a family club where sociability is super important, but now we also show that hockey is played at a high level. With this retention we can build on to a team that is a steady promotion class player.’
Saint-Tropez trip on the horizon
Even before enforcement was a fact, Leemans pledged to stay. So did the rest of the selection. Alferink: ‘We are now taking a few days of rest and will start selection training on Thursday to strengthen our group. Not ideal after such a tough weekend, but that’s how it is. But count on it that we will celebrate this retention. The girls and the club deserve that enormously.’
There are already attractive plans for the summer as well. We start our preparation with a five-day team trip to Saint-Tropez. Not to play field hockey, but to play padel, run and especially to grow closer together.’
by Hockey.nl
