Match results
02 | 6 Apr 14:45 | Gantoise HC GAN | 0 - 3 | Club Campo de Madrid CAM | Recap | ||
05 | 8 Apr 09:15 | Gantoise HC GAN | 4 - 1 | Pembroke Wanderers HC PEM | Recap |
* Won by shoot-out
About Gantoise HC
Gantoise’s women have built a lead in the Ion Hockey League season following a perfect start to 2023.
It continues an incredible run for the club in recent years which included a 93-game unbeaten run between April 2018 and October 2022 in the Belgian league. During that time, they won back-to-back national titles while they also won the EuroHockey Trophy in 2021 which went a long way to elevating their country to the EHL Women’s stage for the first time.
The squad has been pretty much together for the past three season with Stephanie vanden Borre the sole departure last summer while Spanish international Berta Bonastre is back in Belgium.
Otherwise, it is a side filled with notable players. Alix Gerniers is the team captain – and Belgian Red Panthers’ co-captain – and is in her 14th season with the club. The 2015 and 2018 Belgian player of the year missed out on the EHL last year through injury.
Barbara Nelen is a product of the youth section and Gerniers’ co-captain at international level. She made her first team debut at the age of 14 and was the best Belgian player in 2011 and 2013.
Ballenghien is slightly newer to the scene but is already a global star, scoring the 2021 FIH Goal of the Year; she scored on international debut at the age of 16 in 2017 against Germany.
They are among a set of five Red Panthers who won Euro bronze in 2021 along with Hélène Brasseur and Pauline de Ryck. French international Delfina Gaspari and Italian – by way of Argentina – Oviedo bring experience while Schreurs and Ann-Sophie Vanden Borre are Under-21 internationals.
It is a youthful setup with an average age of 23,1 while they feature the two youngest players in the Belgian League: Fee Van Den Abeele and Alexi Van Remortel. Both girls only turned 15 in August 2022.
At the far end of the spectrum, Emilie Sinia turns 38 in May and has over 20 years of know-how in the division, still tearing things up down the right channel.
They finished in fourth place last year will meet Spain’s Club de Campo in the ABN AMRO EHL FINAL8.
EHL History
2021/22 – Fourth place