The last day of te KO16 weekend of the EuroHockey League ended with a real belter of a match between two Dutch clubs, the hosts Bloemendaal, and Oranje Zwart from Eindhoven.
Played in front of a noisy and enthusiastic crowd of 5,000, we were treated to a display of high intensity hockey from the off. Jelle Galena stunned the home crowd with a 31 minute goal, but Martijn van Mierlo equalised in the second half, sending the match into extra time and then yet another one-on-one shoot out.
The normally ingenious and skillful Bloemendaal were inexplicably well below their best in the shoot out and paid the price, failing to find the net with their first two attempts out of three. So it is Oranje Zwart who go through to the semi finals, where they play HGC. The semi finals take place on 11 June. Although the venue has still to be arranged, there has been some speculation here in Bloemendaal that HGC may host the final four.
