Last weekend the denouement took place in Dutch league for women. Polar Bears and ZV De Zaan competed for the national title in a best-of-three final. Polar Bears won convincingly.
The team from Ede won the title in two matches. The reigning champion won 5-7 in Zaandam on Friday and was supreme a day later in the home game. In Ede it was no less than 11-2 for the team of Koen de Weerd.
In the regular season, Polar Bears was nine points behind ZV De Zaan, but did win three of the four head-to-head confrontations. Both on Friday and Saturday, Polar Bears had the better of the game. In Zaandam, Polar Bears ran out to 4-6 in the last period by Laura Schinkel and Lola Moolhuijzen. De Zaan came back to 5-6, but Feline Voordouw determined the final score at 5-7.
Barely twenty-two hours later, Polar Bears won again. In the first half it looked like a game, but after that Polar Bears was supreme. Fleurien Bosveld, Jill Oort and Moolhuijzen gave the home team a comfortable 6-2 lead. In the last period, De Zaan was unable to score and Polar Bears increased the production. Even goalkeeper Joanne Koenders managed to find the net on the other side. Bosveld put the 11-2 on the board fifty seconds before the end, after which the champagne bottles could be uncorked and the party started. It is the eighth title in history for Polar Bears.
After the Supercup, this is the second prize of the season for Polar Bears. The national cup can be added in the coming weeks.
Men
The men are not there yet. This weekend they played the last complete round of matches in the regular competition. A number of teams still have a few make-up games ahead, but most of it is now clear.
The top-8 has been determined and can prepare for the play-offs, which start on May 13 after the national cup tournament. At the bottom, almost everything is also clear. SVH had already been relegated and BZC seems to have suffered the same fate. The four-time national champion has ended up in a free fall and it seems difficult to stop. The team lost twice this weekend. On Saturday, Het Ravijn was the better with 20-5 and on Sunday BZC had to bow for Waterpolo Den Haag (10-8). With make-up matches against SVH and ZPB ahead, it will be exciting for BZC in the coming period. At least one match must be won in order not to be relegated directly.
PSV and De Ham have maintained their position. The team from Eindhoven in particular had a strong last weekend. Two competitors were defeated. On Saturday, PSV was too strong for Waterpolo Den Haag (10-7) and a day later, PSV won against De Ham (8-11), who shared the points with ZPB (10-10) on Saturday. PSV has thus finished in more than a safe tenth place. For Waterpolo Den Haag, depending on the results of the remaining matches of BZC, direct relegation or promotion-relegation matches await.
At the top, GZC Donk took the fourth place. The reigning national champion overtook Polar Bears after a strong weekend and is the last team to secure home advantage in the play-offs. On Friday, the team from Gouda played a draw against UZSC (11-11) and on Saturday they won well against leader AZC. As Polar Bears and ZV De Zaan were tied (16-16), those four points were enough for GZC Donk to finish just above the team from Ede. ZPC Amersfoort defeated ZVL-1886 with 12-10 and closes the regular competition at the sixth place.
Eredivisie Women
Play-off final 2021-2022 (best-of-three)
Friday 25 March
ZV De Zaan – Polar Bears 5-7 (3-3, 0-1, 1-1, 1-2).
ZV De Zaan: Maxine Schaap 3, Lieke Rogge 1, Sigrid Vleeshakker 1.
Polar Bears: Lola Moolhuijzen 2, Storm Willemsen 2, Laura Schinkel 1, Feline Voordouw 1, Fleurien Bosveld 1.
Saturday March 26
Polar Bears – ZV De Zaan: 11-2 (2-1, 1-0, 3-1, 5-0).
Polar Bears: Lola Moolhuijzen 3, Fleurien Bosveld 3, Jill Oort 2, Nienke Vermeer 1, Joanne Koenders 1, Feline Voordouw 1.
ZV De Zaan: Lieke Rogge 1, Danique Sap 1.
Eredivisie Men
Friday 25 March
UZSC – GZC Donk: 11-11 (1-3, 5-3, 3-3, 2-2).
UZSC: Gies Wijnhoven 2, Joep de Jong 2, Flemming Kastrop 2, Jeroen Rouwenhorst 1, Sook Willemsen 1, Tom ten Wolde 1, Bram van den Bersselaar 1, Benjamin Hoepelman 1.
GZC Donk: Mart van der Weijden 3, Erik Brugué 2, Stan van den Heuvel 2, Kjeld Veenhuis 2, Tijs Schouwerwou 1, Quint van den Heuvel 1.
Saturday 26 March
Het Ravijn – BZC: 20-5 (5-1, 5-1, 4-2, 6-1).
Het Ravijn: Yoran Loos 5, Jorrit Aanstoot 3, Emiel Wouters 3, Bas ter Brake 2, Sam Stertefeld 2, Bas Jan Dijkink 2, Rob Gottemaker 1, Jorn Muller 1, Ivar Schilstra 1.
BZC: Adam Tamas, Dynand Muller 2, Sven Dijkhuis 1.
ZPB – De Ham: 10-10 (3-4, 3-2, 3-0, 1-4).
ZPB: Onno Kuller 4, Maurice Dentro 2, Sven Silvis 1, Marco Booij 1, Ton van der Velden 1, Michael de Kreek 1.
De Ham: Tom Geestman 5, Floris vant Veer 2, Florian Lukas 1, Kjeld Gravesteijn 1, Sjoerd Beets 1.
ZPC Amersfoort – ZVL-1886: 12-10 (2-1, 4-5, 4-4, 2-0).
ZPC Amersfoort: Sebastiaan van Mil 5, Max van der Werve 3, Jan-Willem Slaghuis 2, Milan Borcsok 1, Mark Siewers 1.
ZVL-1886: Mark Visser 3, Jasper Haasnoot 3, Patrik Simac 1, Max Reijchard 1, Stan van Ruiten 1, Ruben van Vierzen 1.
ZV De Zaan – Polar Bears: 16-16 (4-4, 5-5, 4-4, 3-3).
ZV De Zaan: Thomas Lucas 4, Angelo Corver 4, Phil Brantjes 4, Pascal Janssen 2, Don Rempt 1, Jurriaan van der Struijk 1.
Polar Bears: Kas te Riele 6, Lars ten Broek 5, Sam Kunz 2, Guus Wolswinkel 1, Jens Wijgers 1, Kay Zittersteijn 1.
PSV – Waterpolo Den Haag: 10-7 (0-1, 3-2, 3-2, 4-2).
PSV: Melle Evers 2, Niels van den Hout 2, Wessel Brands 1, Julian van Oorschodt 1, Mees Schouten 1, Bram Swinkels 1, Stijn Simons 1, Quint Pijnenburg 1.
Waterpolo Den Haag: Bart Turk 2, Koen Heiden 2, Coen Berendse 1, Daan Heiden 1, Jeroen Ruigrok 1.
GZC Donk – AZC: 14-11 (4-1, 6-2, 3-3, 1-5).
GZC Donk: Guus van Yperen 4, Stan van den Heuvel 4, Kjeld Veenhuis 2, Mart van der Weijden 2, Daan Schouwerwou 1, Quint van den Heuvel 1.
AZC: Robin Lindhout 3, Milos Filipovic 3, Nigel Kombrink 1, Nathan de Zwaan 1, Thomas Glansdorp 1, Lars Reuten 1, Jesse Nispeling 1.
Sunday 27 March
De Ham – PSV: 8-11 (2-0, 2-2, 2-5, 2-4).
De Ham: Tim Groenendijk 2, Floris vant Veer 1, Reinier van t Veer 1, Hamish Booker 1, Sjoerd Beets 1, Kjeld Gravesteijn 1, Sven Gravesteijn 1.
PSV: Levy Kort 5, Quint Pijnenburg 2, Niels van den Hout 1, Tijn Ritman 1, Melle Evers 1, Wessel Brands 1.
Waterpolo Den Haag – BZC: 10-8 (3-2, 2-2, 3-1, 2-3).
Waterpolo Den Haag: Bart Turk 3, Koen Heiden 2, Fabian van Niekerk 2, Daan Heiden 2, Jorik Amesz 1.
BZC: Dynand Muller 5, Adam Tamas 3.
1 AZC 26-63
2 Het Ravijn 26-60
3 ZV De Zaan 26-56
4 GZC Donk 26-55
5 Polar Bears 26-53
6 ZPC Amersfoort 26-51
7 UZSC 25-47
8 ZVL-1886 26-37
9 ZPB 25-22
10 PSV 26-22
11 De Ham 26-18
12 Waterpolo Den Haag 26-26
13 BZC 24-13
14 SVH 24-7
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