The semi-final spots were finalised at the men’s and women’s EuroHockey U21 Championships in Terrassa after yet another day of drama.
On the men’s side, Belgium staved off the challenge of France while a goal-crazy Germany advance from their group; they were followed through by the Netherlands and Spain, the latter surviving an intense English comeback.
On the women’s side, Pool B was straight-forward in the end with England defeating Ireland 5-0 and Germany seeing off Austria 9-0.
In Pool A, there was a grandstand finish. Teresa Saenz de Santa Maria’s last minute goal eventually won the day for Spain to defeat Belgium 2-1 and go through to the final four. The Netherlands topped the group with a comfortable win over France.
Thursday will be a rest day with all the semi-finals to be played on Friday. On the women’s side, the Netherlands will play England while Germany face Spain.
In the men’s competition, Belgium will play Spain while the Netherlands meet Germany.
Women
Pool B was settled in relatively simple fashion as England ran up a 5-0 win to take second spot in the group ahead of Ireland. It was competitive in the early stages but the English side went ahead in the 13th minute when Jessica Dyson was fouled with the goal beckoning. Beth Alexander converted the following stroke.
Dyson also set up the second goal six minutes later when she got to the baseline and crossed for Josefina Hippe for 2-0.
Scarlett Spavin deflected in the third goal in the third quarter to move them further clear; Maddie Long was credited with the fourth goal from a corner and then Dyson got the goal her performance deserved with a brilliant steal in the circle and reverse-stick shot.
Germany were already assured of advancing and they guaranteed top spot with a 9-0 win over Austria. Laura Plüth and Lynn Krings both scored twice in the win.
England’s second spot in the group means they also get a Junior World Cup ticket spot into the bargain. Ireland will take three points into Pool C while Austria have zero points with two games to go.
Pool A closed out the group stages in suitably spectacular fashion as Spain eventually overhauled Belgium in an intense affair.
Astrid Bonami whipped a shot into the top corner in the first minute from a penalty corner drag-flick to give the Belgians – who only needed a point – a dream start.
From there, they spent much of the game on the back foot as Spain – for whom only a win would do – threw what they could forward.
As time wore on, they started winning more and more corners. They had to work through all their different variations but eventually got level when Mar Sola got a light touch to Lucía Casado’s swept shot to wrong-foot the goalkeeper.
At times, Spain were just about hanging in there as the Young Red Panthers had a few huge chances to swing the momentum back their way.
But the Spaniards kept coming in attack and from their final series of penalty corners, Casado found the delivery once more and Teresa Saenz de Santa Maria knicked the key touch to make it 2-1.
Men
Belgium saw off the challenge of France 3-2 in a penalty corner battle to take up their place in the semi-finals, denying France progression to the medal rounds in the process.
Hugo Labouchere put them 1-0 up just before the end of the first quarter and the same played gave them an extra boost with his second corner drag.
France had a lifeline before the break, though, when Victor Saint-Martin ripped a shot into the bottom corner, halving the gap.
And he repeated the trick after a series of corners at the start of the final quarter to make it 2-2, a result which would have seen France advance and Belgium eliminated.
Labouchere, however, came up with one more corner goal in the 49th minute and it gave them the result they needed to go through.
On the other pitch, to make sure they advanced, Germany needed a big win to guarantee a top spot – without help from Pitch 1 – and they duly got it with a 15-1 success over Türkiye.
Ben Hasbach started the scoring in the first quarter and he would go on to score five times in total to bring his tournament total to nine. Fabio Seitz also weighed in with a hat trick.
In Pool B, the Netherlands and Spain took the spoils but not before another huge input of drama.
Spain held on for the draw they needed to go through, but only just against England. They were rampant in the first quarter against England, going 1-0 up in the first quarter via Pol Cabré-Verdiell’s penalty stroke and then two goals within a minute from Pablo Espino and Nicolas Avarez, 3-0 with barely 10 minutes gone.
And they looked the more likely to score again with a series of dangerous attacks throughout the second quarter but England hung on to limit the damage.
The English came out transformed in the second half, getting one back via Jonny Sturch-Hibbitt’s corner deflection. And then, at the second attempt, Lewis Wilcher found the net from a retaken penalty stroke; 3-2 with 22 minutes to go.
And when Matthew Hughson scored to make it 3-3, there was still three minutes to play but a winning goal eluded them in the end.
On Pitch 2, two early penalty corner goals from the Netherlands set them on course for victory over Ireland to ensure they topped the group. In a whirlwind start, Timo Boers scored with 58 seconds on the clock and then Finn van Bijnen snapped up a corner rebound.
Ireland replied well, winning corners in the second quarter and then they halved the deficit in the third via Mark Collins. At that stage, they needed a win to have a chance of advancing but they were stung by goals from Miles Bukkens and Dylan Lucieer either side of the third break for a 4-1 lead.
