University of Connecticut Athletics
Pieper & Germany Advance to EuroFinal on Sunday
6/12/2021 2:18:00 PM | Field Hockey
AMSTERDAM - Former UConn field hockey standout Cecile Pieper helped lift her Germany squad to a semifinal win in the Semifinals of 2021 EuroHockey Championship.
Germany set up a sixth women's EuroHockey Championship final showdown with the Netherlands thanks to their 4-1 semi-final win over Spain, putting them within one win of a third continental title. The scoreline did not reflect an incredibly close tussle with the margin of success inflated by two last minutes goals as Die Danas capitalised on Spain leaving the back door open.
"It was a pretty tough game for us," said MVP Cecile Pieper. "We came out really strong and scored right away and then it got out of our hands a bit. In the second half, we came on strong again and, in the end, I think it was a deserved win because we had a really good second half."In sport, there is always a little bit of luck and that was on our side. But our corner defense looked really good and our goalie had a great day and I am really proud of the girls."
Germany got off to the perfect start, winning a corner which drew the best from Maria Ruiz. It went out for a long corner which was worked back into the danger zone with Anne Schröder flipping the ball into the path of Cecile Pieper to redirect the ball in. Spain were level in the 13th minute from their first corner when Lucia Jimenez took in a slightly off course injection, sweeping at goal where Berta Bonastre was waiting to chip the ball into the net.
From there, it was an intense battle between well matched teams with very little to separate them. Spain did spurn the next golden opportunity, a corner move falling to Xantal Giné who had the goal at her mercy but caught her sweep shot early and across the face of goal.
And the miss was punished just before the end of the fourth quarter from a series of corners, the second of which Sonja Zimmerman brought the power to make it 2-1. Spain threw everything into attack for the closing quarter and picked up four penalty corners but each time the German defense broke out at pace to charge down the chances and allow now clean sight to goal. And when the Red Sticks withdrew their goalkeeper, Germany capitalized to score two more into an unguarded net, Pia Maertens and Schröder the happy recipients to make sure they could breathe a bit easier in the final seconds.
Looking forward to the Dutch contest, Pieper added: "It is a classico and we will throw everything at it and hopefully it will be a really good game."
