On Monday October 23, exactly 24 hours after the starting signal of the match against Slovakia, TeamNL Korfball played its third World Cup match against Catalonia. In the Taipei Gymnasium in Taiwan, Niebeek and Boode’s team never had a hard time against the Catalans. The score was 40-14 for the Dutch korfball team.
With Fleur Hoek, Olav van Wijngaarden, Jessica Lokhorst and Ran Faber in attack and Zita Schröder, Daan Preuninger, Brett Zuijdwegt and Harjan Visscher in defense, TeamNL Korfball started very strongly. Ran Faber scored well with a number of beautiful actions, Fleur Hoek was flawless on the free throw and Harjan Visscher was unstoppable from a distance. In the first quarter of the match, 60 percent of TeamNL Korfball’s attacks resulted in a goal. That resulted in a 12-2 lead after ten minutes. In the second quarter the attack percentage remained high, but the Catalans also grew into the match and became increasingly dangerous. Towards the end of the first half, TeamNL Korfball had to concede a number of goals, although the lead remained large. The score was 20-8 and the game was calmed down.
Immediately after the break, Alwin Out was brought into the team in place of Daan Preuninger. A little later, Femke Faber, top scorer of the past two games, was also used. She replaced Brett Zuijdwegt and immediately crowned her substitution with a goal, now the score was 30-10. TeamNL Korfball remained offensively effective and entered the final quarter with a 32-12 lead. Esther Cordus, Terrenc Griemink, Sanne van der Werff and Bo Oppe replaced the entire section of Fleur Hoek, Olav van Wijngaarden, Jessica Lokhorst and Ran Faber. These new powers also immediately made themselves felt. While it did not work against Slovakia yesterday, today the magical limit of 40 goals was achieved. At 40-14 the difference in strength was again clear. Ran Faber was the top scorer of the day with seven goals. Faber is happy with his goals, but continues to see room for improvement. “Of course you try to score every ball, and if you don’t succeed, that’s a shame,” he says, laughing. However, he is satisfied with the match. “We are doing well with the whole team. I think we have again achieved a very good result and showed great play.”
The fourth World Cup match is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24. TeamNL Korfball will then play against the Czech Republic at 9.45 am Dutch time. The final is on Sunday, October 29 at 7:45 am Dutch time.
Photo: Marco Spelten
