Women's Euro Cup: Trieste hold on for two quarters but the Dutch celebrate, trophy goes to De Zaan

t wasn’t meant to be , again. In the second leg of the Women’s Euro Cup final, Pallanuoto Trieste were defeated 14-7 by Zv De Zaan, a commanding result that mirrors the outcome of the first match and secures the European trophy for the Dutch side. At the Sloterparkbad in Amsterdam, the team sponsored by Samer & Co. Shipping held their own for two quarters but were ultimately unable to overturn the one-goal deficit from the home leg at “Bruno Bianchi” three weeks ago. Despite the outcome, the European campaign of the Orchette has been remarkable – though falling short in a second consecutive final certainly stings. "It’s a tough scoreline," admitted head coach Paolo Zizza. "Unfortunately, we made too many mistakes, poor offensive reads, we were passive and they kept us under pressure throughout. Credit to De Zaan – they showed great quality as a team. We’ll need to take a hard look at this match ahead of the playoffs."

The match. Tension was high at the start, with goals slow to come. Van Rijn opened the scoring on a power play (1-0), then Klatowski responded with an extra-player goal of her own (1-1). Sam scored from center (2-1), before De March leveled again (2-2), but a lob from Drewes with just one second left in the period made it 3-2. The second quarter followed a similar back-and-forth rhythm. Gant equalized for 3-3, then a penalty from Lieke Rogge and a brace by Koopman pushed the home side ahead 6-3. Koptseva gave the Orchette some breathing room with a quick reaction goal (6-4), and De March fired one into the top corner to cut the gap to 6-5 at halftime.

In the third period, De Zaan delivered the decisive blow. Drewes converted on the power play, Lieke Rogge scored on a counter, followed by goals from Van Rijn, Bente Rogge, and another from Drewes to make it 11-5 – an almost unassailable lead with just eight minutes to go. With the match essentially over, the fourth quarter saw goals from Sam with the extra player (12-5), another by Sam (13-5), Gant (13-6), Vukovic (13-7), and a final goal by Sam to seal the 14-7 win.

ZV DE ZAAN – PALLANUOTO TRIESTE 14-7 (3-2; 3-3; 5-0; 3-2)
DE ZAAN: Van Leeuwen, L. Rogge 2, De Ouden, Van Der Veen, Sam 4, Hicks, Happe, Koopman 2, De Boer, Drewes 3, Van Rijn 2, B. Rogge 1, Van De Dobbelsteen. Coach: Van Den Bree
PALLANUOTO TRIESTE: Sparano, Citino, De March 2, Cordovani, Gant 2, Cergol, Klatowski 1, Colletta, Gragnolati, Vukovic 1, Koptseva 1, G. Zizza, Apollonio. Coach: P. Zizza
Referees: Debreceni (Hungary), Daskalopoulou (Greece)