The Netherlands got what they needed with something to spare to land a place in the women’s semi-finals in Mönchengladbach with a 5-0 success against Italy.

Needing a point to copper-fasten their place in the final four once again, Frédérique Matla put the Dutch in front in the second quarter from the penalty spot. 

Yibbi Jansen found the roof of the net with a corner drag-flick for her fourth goal of the tournament and Pien Dicke touched in a close-range goal for 3-0 in the 24th minute.

But the Italians showed grit to slow the Dutch progress and their goalkeeper, Lucia Caruso, was excellent. Marijn Veen did chip in with another with an opportunistic finish from close range and then Dicke redirected a Jansen shot in for number five.

Player of the match Joosje Burg said: “I think Italy played quite well and we needed to score some more goals but I am happy with five goals and through to the semi-finals! We are getting a lot of balls are going into the circle and going 2 centimetres from the final stick and so we need to be a bit better in the semi-finals.”

Women’s Pool A: Netherlands 5 (P Dicke 2, F Matla, Y Jansen, M Veen) Italy 0