3rd/4th Place: Gantoise HC – Junior FC

Match report

Junior FC ended their debut EHL season with BRONZE as their penalty corner routines proved decisive to see off Gantoise 2-1 at the Wagener Stadium.

Berta Serrahim and Maialen Garcia got the vital touches either side of a smart goal from Anne-Sophie vanden Borre, in a tough battle at the end of a hectic week for both teams.

Gantoise were light on numbers with both Stephanie vanden Borre and Alix Gerniers out of action but they started on the up.

Early on, Natalia Salvador made couple of massive saves from Ambre Ballenghien as Junior scrambled to keep out their Belgian opponent on a couple of occasions before settling into the game.

They took the lead in the 19th minute with Serrahima – on the left switch – applied the power and it took a wicked deflection to go up and over Pauline de Ryck.

Gantoise got level just before half-time with a really clever move, Ballenghien disguising her pass to the injector to Anne-Sophie vanden Borre who swept in first time.

Twenty seconds into the second half, a beautiful passing move made it all the way to Mariona Serrahima but she wasn’t able to get her spin move on target.

The winner did come, however, with just under 14 minutes to go, Gigi Oliva whipping the ball down the middle where Garcia applied the deflection to lift the ball out of reach of de Ryck.

“Getting a medal like this is like a real gift from our first time playing EHL and we really have to enjoy it” player of the match Oliva said afterwards. “The game was really close and Gantoise are a great team. Both teams were a little fatigued but at the end, it was for us!

“Just having this experience and with all the organisation of the EHL, it is something we will take with us and having this bronze medal, we are really happy!”