MHC Oranje Zwart – Harvestehuder THC

Match report

KO8 Oranje Zwart 4 (J Galema 2, N van der Schoot, B Stanzl)
Harvestehuder THC 4 (M Körper 3, J Heuer), HTHC win 6-5 in a shoot-out

Michael Körper added to his incredible reputation
as the match-winner supreme as he fashioned a famous comeback before eventually
scoring the winning shoot-out to beat Oranje Zwart in an extraordinary game.
He netted a hat trick and then held his nerve in the eighth
round of the shoot-out, ending one a game for the ages.
The action was relentless from the very start with Körper
deflecting onto the post from Tobias Hauke’s early drag-pass. Mink van der
Weerden was denied by Tobias Walter from three penalty corner shots while Bob
de Voogd hit the outside of the post.
Körper put his side in front when George Farrant’s deflected
corner move was illegally defended at the left post and the Austrian striker
pitted the penalty stroke in the 18th minute. OZ kept out a couple
of corners to keep the gap at the minimum before the Eindhoven swung the game
in an incredible run of four goals in six minutes either side of half-time.
Jelle Galema levelled in the 28th minute when he
took in a simple ball into the circle, muscled away the defender and bunted
into the corner. It was not the cleanest strike but was enough to beat Walter.
Moments later, Bob de Voogd assisted for Niek van der Schoot
with a great run around the back of the HTHC defence and picked out his team
mate to slot the finish.
They carried that momentum into the second half in
devastating style. Rob van der Horst’s backhand shot looked to be goalbound
before Galema touched in his second.
Benjamin Stanzl then got in on the act when Rashid Mehmood’s
run was cut short, the former HTHC man picked up the pieces and rolled home –
he courteously did not celebrate against his former club.
Other teams might be dead and buried at 4-1 down but
Harvestehuder have an incredible reputation for performing the impossible and
they fought back in incredible style.
Körper’s brilliant reverse stick shot beat Vincent Vanasch all
ends up from the left of the circle to start the comeback. Vanasch saved Körper’s
next shot brilliantly but the follow-up attack fell to Jan Heuer who bundled in
for 4-3 at the three quarter mark.
And Körper tied up the game in the 49th minute with a
powerful low drag-flick to make it 4-4, setting up a thrilling final 10
minutes. The ball hit the inside of OZ’s post – the fourth time the metalwork
got involved in this epic – to cause even more panic.
Vanasch got down low to deny Körper’s next corner flick and he
also got down brilliantly to deny Goodfield from point blank range with 120
seconds to go. Galema had a big chance at the far end, samshing into Walter’s
pads while a last minute OZ referral was turned away sending the game to the
shoot-out.
The regulation shoot-out ended 3-3 leading to sudden death
and the next two rounds also ended even. Galema was denied by Walter and Körper,
despite an earlier miss and being held up by Vanasch, clipped in the
all-important winner.