Eindhoven, 16th of April 2014 – Drama abounded on day one of the KO16/KO8 as four sides from four different countries – Club de Campo, Harvestehuder, Rotterdam and Dragons – advanced to the last eight of Europe’s top club competition.
First up, Club de Campo scored in each quarter to run up a comfortable 5-0 win, ending St Germain’s run in this year’s Euro Hockey League. After a slow start, Anton Parente’s penalty corner goal on the quarter-time hooter set them up well. Rodrigo Vila added another couple of goals while Alex Davila closed out the win with a pair of strikes in the last quarter.
In game two Paul Pongs’ penalty stroke earned Harvestehuder the spoils in an incredibly tight all-German battle with Uhlenhorst Mulheim with precious little between the two sides. He converted in the 33rd minute following Tobias Hauke’s great run into the circle was chopped down by a defender. No problem for Pongs, he picked out the top corner past the impressive Felix Reuss for what proved the crucial goal in a dramatic tie with Uhlenhorst pushing for a late goal that never came.
Jeroen Hertzberger’s hat trick powered Rotterdam to a strong 6-1 win over Grunwald Poznan to become the third side to make it through to the KO8. It took little time for the Dutch side to get up and running, EHL Hero Hertzberger scored twice in the opening quarter along with Seve van Ass whose clever chip shot made it 3-0 at the quarter-time break.Poznan got a goal back via Karol Majchrzak in the third quarter but Jeffrey Thys, Bas Campbell and Hertzberger’s third goal completed the win.
And the best game was saved until last. Dragons brilliant record in the Euro Hockey League continued as they eliminated Dutch side Kampong to claim the final game of day one of this year’s KO16 as Felix Denayer held his nerve to score the vital penalty. The two sides shared a thrilling 2-2 draw in normal time before Dragons produced a great set of one-on-ones in the deciding shoot-out to prevail 4-3.
More information about all the games including full reports and video highlights of all the matches can be found at www.ehlhockey.tv, the official website of the Euro Hockey League.
Photograph: Dragons celebrate! (EHL/Frank Uijlenbroek (c))