Belfius EuroHockey Championships
Women’s Pool B: Germany 13 (R Grote 4, P Maertens 2, A Schroder 2, N Lorenz 2, S Oruz, L Micheel, C Pieper) Belarus 0
Germany powered past Belarus to record an imposing victory in the opening game of Pool B of the women’s Belfius EuroHockey Championships.
Five first half goals set them on their way and they barely looked back with another five in the third quarter extending their lead into double figures with Rebecca Grote top scoring with four.
After some initial resistance, a storming run from Pia Maertens unlocked the door to win a corner. Nike Lorenz nailed the set piece to start the ball rolling on the score sheet.
Then, just a couple of seconds into the second quarter, Franzisca Hauke burst into the circle and laid off to Maertens to finish off for 2-0 lead in the 16th minute. Grote got her first of the day from another corner flick and then added her second from the penalty spot after a Belarussian body was hit on the line.
Lorenz also had time to hit the post before Maertens completed the first half scoring with a delicate finish. And there was little relief for Belarus in the second half as Grote completed her hat trick and Cecile Pieper squeezed home a shot from the right baseline to make it 7-0.
A block of three goals inside 90 seconds stretched the lead out to ten with Grote adding another, Lena Micheel smacking home a reverse-stick shot and Selin Oruz scrambled in for double figures.
Anne Schroder added another couple in the closing quarter with Lorenz adding her second, too.
Pia Maertens said afterwards: “Really happy, it was a very good start. You don’t want to ‘over-pace’ in the first game and go too hard but a lot of us scored and we played really well. It was a good mix, a lot of corners, a stroke and from play from different players which is good for the team.
“Next we have England which is the biggest game in our group so we will see what they can do!”
Umpires: A Faias (POR), V Bagdanskiene (BLR)
Germany – Belarus
15’ Nike Lorenz (PC) 1-0
16’ Pia Maertens (FG) 2-0
20’ Rebecca Grote (PC) 3-0
23’ Rebecca Grote (PS) 4-0
26’ Pia Maertens (FG) 5-0
37’ Rebecca Grote (PC) 6-0
40’ Cecile Pieper (FG) 7-0
43’ Rebecca Grote (PC) 8-0
43’ Lena Micheel (FG) 9-0
44’ Selin Oruz (FG) 10-0
46’ Anne Schroder (FG) 11-0
47’ Nike Lorenz (FG) 12-0
55’ Anne Schroder (FG) 13-0