W1 To Face KHC Dragons In European Final
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women will face Belgian club KHC Dragons in the EuroHockey Club Trophy I Final on Monday at 1445 BST after beating Italian club Butterfly Roma 8-1 in their final Pool B match in Hamburg.
Surbiton made even more history as the 8-1 victory is now their biggest win in Europe. surpassing the 7-0 win over GHC Ritm Grodno of Belarus in Amstelveen in 2018. And Izzy Petter, who scored in the 7-0 win, became the second Surbiton player to score a hat-trick in Europe, a day after Hannah French became the first against Der Club an der Alster of Germany, with Petter's hat-trick goal, Surbiton's seventh, also counting as Surbiton's 50th goal in Europe.
Surbiton went into the match just needing a draw to reach the final. Club an der Alster had beaten Watsonians 7-0 in the preceding match, the German club going a point ahead of Surbiton, but with draws counting as two points in European competition, Surbiton simply needed to avoid defeat.
Surbiton just needed five minutes to take the lead, Petter opening the scoring from a penalty corner. Sophie Hamilton doubled the lead four minutes later from open play and by half time, Surbiton had a comfortable 3-0 lead, Giselle Ansley converting a penalty corner in the 19th minute.
Butterfly Roma then successfully defended for 20 minutes after the third goal before Petter scored Surbiton's fourth goal in the 39th minute. Hamilton put Surbiton 5-0 ahead at the end of the third quarter, but Surbiton blitzed Butterfly Roma with three goals in three minutes in the fourth quarter to complete a comprehensive victory.
Meg Dowthwaite scored Surbiton's sixth goal in the 53rd minute before Petter completed her hat-trick with Surbiton's milestone goal in the 55th minute and before Butterfly Roma could recover, Sarah Evans was on hand to score number eight a minute later.
Butterfly Roma had managed to score against Der Club an der Alster and they scored against Surbiton in the final minute, Eleonora Di Paola finishing from open play.
Surbiton's reserve goalkeeper, Delphine Ayitey-Hammond replaced Amber Walton in goal at the start of the fourth quarter.
Surbiton will face a tough test against KHC Dragons, who are the holders after they beat Mannheimer in last year's final in Wettingen, Switzerland. Dragons beat HC RotWeiss Wettingen 4-1, MSC Sumchanka 1-0 and Slavia Prague 3-0 on the way to the Final. Their captain, Valerie Magis has scored four of Dragons' eight goals in the Pool A matches.
More information about the competition can be found at the EHF Altius website here
In the Women's Euro Hockey League ranking match, East Grinstead beat Belgian club Gantoise 2-1 in Amstelveen on Sunday morning. Lily Walker put East Grinstead ahead in the 19th minute, only for Ambre Ballenghien to level in the 41st minute. Biba Mills became the youngest ever EHL scorer in the 51st minute, scoring the winning goal for the West Sussex club. East Grinstead goalkeeper Issy Field also saved a penalty stroke from Ballenghien.
In the Men's Euro Hockey Club Trophy I, Cardiff & Met will face Irish club Lisnagarvey in Monday's final in Lousada Portugal. Cardiff & Met beat Slavia Prague 4-3 to top Pool A and Lisnagarvey beat OKS-SHVSM Vinnitsa of the Ukraine 8-0 to finish in first place in Pool B.
Information about all the European competitions can be found at the EHF Altius website here