An exciting water polo weekend in the Netherlands is behind us. After victories, UZSC and runner-up ZV De Zaan are firmly in the lead, while AZC had a dramatic weekend with two losses and a free fall in the rankings. ZPC Amersfoort not only wins twice but also loses its coach.
The match of the weekend was set on Sunday afternoon. Then AZC and UZSC met; a match between the cup winner and the national champion from the previous ‘normal’ season (2018-2019). UZSC was the strongest. In the third period, they ran from 5:5 to 5:7 with goals from Bram van den Bersselaar and Sook Willemsen. Although Robin Lindhout shot AZC to 6:7 at the beginning of the last period, it was enough for a Utrecht victory. On Saturday, UZSC had won as well. And again in a hard-fought away game. The Utrecht team had a strong start against Het Ravijn, leading 1:3, but then Het Ravijn took over the initiative and took a 5:4 lead. However, Roeland Spijker’s team showed resilience. In the last period, UZSC ran with patient play to 5:8. Still, it got exciting at the last minute, but Het Ravijn didn’t get closer than 7:8.
AZC, on the other hand, didn’t lose only against UZSC, but also against BZC. That can be called a big surprise. In an unprecedented final offensive, BZC cleared an 8:11 deficit in the last 3 minutes and turned it into a 13:11 victory. Jan-Willem Slaghuis and Bilal Gbadamassi signed for the winning goals in the last twenty seconds. As a result, AZC has dropped to seventh place in the ranking.
ZV De Zaan is the only team that can follow UZSC for now. The team of coach Johan Aantjes, who extended his contract for a year last week, had a relatively easy weekend with two big victories. After a convincing first period (7:0) it was able to ‘freewheel’ towards the final signal against De Ham on Saturday. The next day, SVH was amply defeated (24:7). Thomas Lucas did good business in the top scorers classification in these two games. The center forward of the Dutch national team scored no less than twelve times.
GZC Donk and ZPC Amersfoort also had a good weekend. GZC Donk defeated ZVL-1886 (10:12) and De Ham (22:7). ZPC Amersfoort beat SVH (20:10) and ZPB (12:7). A special achievement for ZPC Amersfoort because the club said goodbye to coach Gianluca Sattolo this weekend. The board of the club indicates that they have a difference of opinion with the Italian coach. The club does not want to say more about it at the moment. SVH has very different problems. They are currently recovering from a phase where many players had corona. Conditionally, the team has therefore taken off quite a bit. That was also evident in the game against ZPC Amersfoort on Saturday. In the first period, SVH was able to stay close to ZPC, after that the home team was supreme.
Het Ravijn made up for Saturday’s narrow defeat against UZSC with a victory on Sunday against ZVL-1886. After three periods, the game was decided (10:4). The strong last period of ZVL did not jeopardize Het Ravijn’s victory anymore. BZC was unable to give a suitable follow-up on Saturday’s handsome victory against AZC. On Sunday Polar Bears was better (12:9).
Eredivisie Men
Saturday April 10
ZPC Amersfoort – SVH 20:10 (4:4, 6:3, 4:1, 6:2)
ZPC Amersfoort: Max van der Werve 5, Sam Kunz 4, Mees Keuning 3, Sebastiaan van Mil 3, Danny Budding 2, Mitchell Budding 2, Lars Reuten 1.
SVH: Milos Filipovic 4, Jesse Nispeling 3, Jelle Kleijss 1, Mathijs Haksteen 1, Max van Genabeek 1.
Het Ravijn – UZSC 7:8 (1:3, 3:1, 1:2, 2:2)
Het Ravijn: Jorrit Aanstoot 2, Lars Gottemaker 2, Ivar Schilstra 1, Yoran Loos 1, Bas ter Brake 1.
UZSC: Sebastian Hessels 2, Benjamin Hoepelman 2, Joep de Jong 1, Flemming Kastrop 1, Benjamin Hessels 1, Joost van der Burg 1.
BZC – AZC 13:11 (4:4, 3:2, 1:4, 5:1)
BZC: Jan-Willem Slaghuis 2, Dynand Muller 1, Filip Kljajevic 1, Joep Lankwaarden 1, Mika Smelt 1, Bilal Gbadamassi 1, Unknown 6.
AZC: Robin Lindhout 5, Attila Kincses 3, Andreas Miralis 1, Laszlo Balasz Nagy 1, Adam Maklari 1.
ZV De Zaan – De Ham 18:9 (7:0, 5:3, 2:2, 4:4)
ZV De Zaan: Thomas Lucas 5, Rick Keijzer 3, Tim Ketelaars 2, Mick van den Bree 2, Jurriaan van der Struijk 2, Angelo Corver 1, Erno Snoek 1, Koen de Jong 1, Unknown 1.
De Ham: Bradley Sap 2, Floris vant Veer 2, Alexander van Straaten 1, Reinier van t Veer 1, Glenn Reemnet 1, Kjeld Gravesteijn 1, Sven Gravesteijn 1.
ZPB – PSV 8:11 (2:3, 2:3, 2:5, 2:0)
ZPB: Kevin van Baarle 2, Onno Kuller 1, Luka Jovanovic 1, Raoul Langendoen 1, Unknown 3.
PSV: Wessel Brands 2, Tijn Ritman 2, Niels van den Hout 2, Quint Pijnenburg 1, Nino Mudrazija 1, Sammy Claes 1, Julian van Oorschodt 1, Levy Kort 1.
ZVL-1886 – GZC Donk 10:12 (2:4, 2:3, 3:3, 3:2)
ZVL: David Spijker 3, Stan van Ruiten 2, Ruben van Vierzen 2, Claudio Bracatello 1, Jasper Haasnoot 1, Max Reijchard 1.
GZC Donk: Guus van Yperen 3, Ton van der Velden 3, Stan van den Heuvel 3, Erik Brugué 1, Maurice Dentro 1, Kjeld Veenhuis 1.
Polar Bears – Waterpolo Den Haag: Cancelled
Sunday April 11
ZPC Amersfoort – ZPB 12:7 (2:1, 3:3, 2:2, 5:1)
ZPC Amersfoort: Sam Kunz 4, Max van der Werve 3, Mitchell Budding 2, Sebastiaan van Mil 2, Lars Reuten 1.
ZPB: Luka Jovanovic 3, Stephan de Ruijter 1, Onno Kuller 1, Noah Hogendoorn 1, Kevin van Baarle 1.
Het Ravijn – ZVL-1886 12:9 (3:1, 1:0, 6:3, 2:5)
Het Ravijn: Yoran Loos 3, Sander Veltkamp 2, Emiel Wouters 2, Jorrit Aanstoot 2, Lars Gottemaker 1, Rob Gottemaker 1, Bas ter Brake 1.
ZVL: Claudio Brancatello 3, Jasper Haasnoot 2, David Voorvelt 1, David Spijker 1, Mark Visser 1, Ruben van Vierzen 1.
AZC – UZSC 6:7 (2:3, 3:2, 0:2, 1:0)
AZC: Robin Lindhout 2, Zoltan Keleman 2, Jacoppo Mandolini 1, Attila Kincses 1.
UZSC: Sook Willemsen 2, Benjamin Hessels 2, Bram van den Bersselaar 1, Sebastian Hessels 1, Gies Wijnhoven 1.
ZV De Zaan – SVH 24:7 (6:2, 4:2, 6:1, 8:2)
ZV De Zaan: Thomas Lucas 7, Angelo Corver 4, Phil Brandjes 3, Rick Keijzer 2, Mick van den Bree 2, Erno Snoek 2, Stan Meijn 1, Unknown 3.
SVH: Milos Filipovic 4, Frank Bot 1, Petar Filipovic 1, Jesse Nispeling 1.
GZC Donk – De Ham 22:7 (5:2, 3:1, 8:2, 6:2)
GZC Donk: Quint van den Heuvel 5, Guus van Yperen 4, Daan Schouwerwou 2, Ton van der Velden 2, Mart van der Weijden 2, Tijs Schouwerwou 2, Kjeld Veenhuis 2, Cas Westerwoudt 1, Erik Brugué, Stan van den Heuvel 1.
De Ham: Floris vant Veer 3, Tom Geestman 1, Reinier van t Veer 1, Glenn Reemnet 1, Kjeld Gravesteijn 1.
Polar Bears – BZC 12:9 (7:3, 3:2, 2:2, 0:2)
Polar Bears: Lars ten Broek 3, Kas te Riele 2, Tom de Weerd 2, Sander Roels 1, Rick Meijer 1, Marnick Snel 1, Timo Zittersteijn 1, Tarik Scherrenburg 1.
BZC: Bilal Gbadamassi 3, Jan-Willem Slaghuis 3, Mika Smelt 2, Frank Groot Kormelinck 1.
Waterpolo Den Haag – PSV: Cancelled
Standings Eredivisie Men
1 UZSC 11-30
2 ZV De Zaan 10-28
3 Het Ravijn 10-21
4 ZPC Amersfoort 11-20
5 Polar Bears 10-19
6 GZC Donk 11-19
7 AZC10-18
8 BZC 10-16
9 PSV 10-11
10 ZVL 11-9
11 ZPB 10-6
12 SVH 7-4
13 De Ham 10-3
14 Waterpolo Den Haag 9-0
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