Handball players Hurry-Up gain confidence for the cup final with a great win at Aalsmeer

Hurry-Up met the reigning national champion with Aalsmeer on Saturday, but was the parent for almost the entire game. The Zwartemeerders played fresh from the liver and showed with the handsome 25-26 victory that they are completely ready for the cup final on Ascension Day against Volendam in Almere. There, the team of the departing coach Joop Fiege will be encouraged by many hundreds of supporters, because about half of Zwartemeer has booked a bus trip to vocally support their heroes against the Volendam team.

Hurry-Up can win a big prize for the second time in history on Thursday. The Zwartemeerders already won the cup in 2011 in the final against E & O, also in Almere. It is the last chance for a prize this season for the Drenten, because they have already been eliminated for the final battle for the Dutch title. Hurry-Up is in fourth place in the Handbal.NL-League with 11 points, which means that with one competition round to go, the final matches for the Dutch championship are out of reach.

Aalsmeer’s placement for final matches for the title has become uncertain

Lions from Sittard has already been placed for that final battle. For a long time, the Limburgers seemed to encounter the current number two in the Aalsmeer position in the best of three final matches. But that has become quite uncertain due to the defeat of the North Hollanders against Hurry-Up. Aalsmeer (14 points) is now closely followed by number three Volendam with thirteen points. Volendam fought back in-house against league-leader Lions from a big deficit and won 32-29.

Aalsmeer cannot lose the last game against Lions, because then Volendam, which will meet the weak Tachos, will play the final games for the title. There was a lot at stake in Aalsmeer’s match against Hurry-Up on Saturday night. But the Drenten took a lead almost from the start and controlled the game. Coach Joop Fiege changes frequently. He wanted to give all his players playing time in view of the cup final. Due to the many changes, Hurry-Up did not play less for a moment, but frankly and freely sought the attack.

Both Hurry-Up keepers grow into stars

The Zwartemeerders could rely on the excellent saves of goalkeeper Boris Tot before half-time and his colleague David Ferreira in the second half. They both grew to excel. Croatian Tot, who has signed up with Hurry-Up, immediately set the tone in the first half by defusing several penalty throws fired at him. This to the great frustration of the Aalsmeer players, who didn’t seem to play with too much confidence anyway.

It all led to a comfortable 10-15 lead for the guests from Zwartemeer at halftime. Led by their top scorer Rob Jansen, who scored a total of seven times, the team from Aalsmeer fought their way back into the game. With a somewhat sloppy period of Hurry-Up, that ensured that the home team reached the same level fifteen minutes before the end with 20-20.

But Hurry-Up kept a cool head. After goalkeeper Ferreira, who is leaving for the German league after this season, stopped a penalty throw by former international Jeffrey Boomhouwer with his foot, the Zwartemeerders ran out again to a 20-24 lead. Aalsmeer, which knew that it should not lose because of the title chances, did not give in yet. The North Holland team scored three times in a row and narrowed the deficit to 23-24.

Hurry-Up can celebrate a party after an exciting final phase

After 24-25 and 24-26, Boomhouwer used a penalty in the absolute final phase after a foul on former Hurry-Up player Vaidas Trainavicius. Aalsmeer tried in the last thirty seconds to disrupt Hurry-Up’s final attack with pure man-marking. That worked, but the remaining 7 seconds on the clock were too short for the home team to equalize. The game was over with 25-26 and the Hurry players could celebrate their party.