Amsterdam stuns favorite SCHC to reach Final

Veenendaal was brilliant in the shoot-outs. She grabbed three of the four shoot-outs. The goalie, who was excellent in both semi-finals, was immediately applauded by her teammates afterwards. Smiling broadly and cheering, they sought out the Amsterdam fans travelling with them afterwards. 'I am happy that I could be so important for the team,' Veenendaal reacted afterwards for the NOS cameras.

On the other side of the pitch, deception was great. The blow of elimination hit the Bilthoven camp very hard. Tears flowed profusely. There was swearing, cursing. The eyes were full of incomprehension.

SCHC's defeat and elimination also meant an immediate end to Xan de Waard's club career. The graceful midfielder, who was again the best on the pitch Saturday afternoon, recently announced she would quit hockey altogether after the World Cup this summer. Her bulging palmares - with gold European Championships, World Cups, Olympic medals and two titles as best player in the world - will therefore remain devoid of a national title. In an earlier interview with hockey.co.uk, she said before that: 'It would be wonderful if I win another national title with SCHC or take the world title with Oranje. But even if that doesn't happen, my career already feels finished for me.'

Van de Peppel praised De Waard afterwards: 'I am extremely proud of Xan. I said the same to her. She played perhaps one of her best matches. We would have liked to have awarded her a national title. That it didn't work out doesn't detract from her great career.'

The tension was palpable in the early stages and visible in the game. It was cautious and rather sloppy from both sides. There were no chances as a result, until Jip Dicke got the ball free in the circle just before the first break. Half-falling, she shot into the side netting, to the disappointment of the home supporters.

The second quarter was not very exciting either. SCHC had a good chance after ten minutes through Jip Dicke again. Her shot ended up on the shoes of goalkeeper Anne Veenendaal, who was suddenly without a chance on a shot by Lotte Ruts less than two minutes before half-time. Yibbi Jansen took the first penalty corner of the match for SCHC.

Amsterdam ran that corner out, but in the rebound the ball got to talent Rots, on the right in the circle. The youth international turned briefly to her backhand and shot cleverly into the long corner: 1-0. With that, halfway through the second semi-final, everything was balanced again.

The goal gave the home team just that little bit of extra confidence to take the initiative after half-time. Amsterdam only got out in small steps. SCHC played patiently and looked for a gap in the Amsterdam defence. They found that after a few minutes when De Waard took a corner, which was pushed by Jansen and saved by Veenendaal. The fans in Bilthoven encouraged their heroes, hoping for an offensive, but were disappointed. The match became more syrupy and syrupy The tension seemed to paralyse the arms and legs. On both sides.

As a result, it did not become a spectacle in the fourth quarter either. Fortunately, there was the tension, the knowledge that it was all or nothing. The players battled, fought for every metre. The final bell rang. It was. Final score 1-0 SCHC and therefore shoot-outs.

That looked like an uneven battle beforehand. With SCHC having few famous takers and Amsterdam having Veenendaal at their disposal. The goalkeeper, who helped Oranje to gold at the Paris Games in 2024 via shoot-outs, was ice-cold the best and may further prove herself against Den Bosch in the Whitsun weekend.