- News release
Rarely seen: Rotterdam with five goal scorers in double figures
Rotterdam's men closed the regular Tulp Hoofdklasse league with a notable statistical footnote. The team counted five players with 10 or more league goals this season - a feat only achieved twice before in the Hoofdklasse Men this century.
Top scorer Pepijn van der Heijden finished on 18 goals. Brother Timme van der Heijden followed on 13 and Guus Jansen on 12. Tjep Hoedemakers and Olivier Hortensius completed the top five, both on 10 goals. Hortensius was still on eight before the final round, but scored twice against Klein Zwitserland last Sunday to reach exactly ten.
It is a rare achievement in the Hoofdklasse Men. This century, Bloemendaal managed it for the first time. That happened in 2005-06, with Karel Klaver and Nick Meijer (both 16), Teun de Nooijer (15), Martijn van Hasselt (12) and Jamie Dwyer (10). Kampong equalled that feat in 2013-14 thanks to Roderick Weusthof (24), Constantijn Jonker (15) and the trio of Martijn Havenga, Robbert Kemperman and Thierry Brinkman, all on ten.
Unique for Rotterdam
For Rotterdam itself, it is a first. In 22 previous premier league seasons, it had never happened that five players ended up in double figures. The high point until this season was four players with at least 10 goals, something that happened in 2008-09. Pakistani penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas then made 16, Jeroen Hertzberger scored 14 times, Phillip Burrows accounted for 13 goals and Simon Child 12.
The Rotterdam fivesome's scoring drive during this season yielded 88 goals in 22 matches, a new club record. The previous record was from season 2016-2017 when 82 goals could be cheered. That will give coach Erik van Driel's team a big boost ahead of the semi-finals of the playoffs for the national title, in which Pinoké is the opponent.
