Spurred on by a screaming home crowd, the Spanish fired
in five unanswered goals from five different players for a 7-4 lead.
Captain Yasemin Smit nailed her third goal for the Dutch with a bouncer
into the top of the net to turn at 7-5.

Stern words were spoken by
both coaches in the long break, while the Aqua Troupe, dressed in
old-fashioned bathing costumes and armed with water pistols and
parasols, entertained the crowd with “Singing in the Rain”.

Netherlands
three times dragged the game back to one goal in the third quarter only
for Spain to take a 10-8 advantage when Andrea Blas scored from two
metres. Havenga earned a yellow card for appealing to the referee over
the awarding of the goal.

It was a one-goal game again when Smit
scored her fourth from five attempts. Spain went 12-9 ahead, Netherlands
responded on a timeout ploy for 12-10 at 2:23 but time was running out
for the Dutch. It proved so as Espar scored off a rebound for 13-10 at
1:42 after an extra-man chance went begging. It was 2013 Olympic All
Star team member Espar’s third goal and probably, most precious.

Klaassen
narrowed the margin to two but Roser Tarrago scored her second of the
period for an unbeatable 14-11 at 0:23, leaving the Dutch with a timeout
and 10 seconds later a third goal for Klaassen and 14-12.

Match 1: 21:30, Group A, SPAIN 14 NETHERLANDS 12
Quarters: 2-4, 5-1, 3-3, 4-4
Referees: Mario Bianchi (ITA), Axel Bender (GER)
Extra Man: ESP: 2/5. NED: 3/7.
Pens: ESP: 0/1.

Teams:
SPAIN: Laura Ester, Marta Bach, Anna Espar (3), Roser Tarrago (2), Matilda Ortiz, Jennifer Pareja (1), Lorena Miranda (1), Pilar Pena (3), Andrea Blas (2), Ona Meseguer (1), Maica Garcia, Laura Lopez (1), Patricia Herrera. Head Coach: Miguel Oca.
NETHERLANDS: Ilse van der Meijden, Yasemin Smit (4), Marloes Nijhuis, Biurakin Hakverdian, Sabrina van der Sloot, Nomi Stomphorst (1), Iefke van Belkum (2), Vivian Sevenich (2), Carolina Slagter, Dagmar Genee, Lieke Klaassen (3), Leonie van der Molen, Anne Heinis. Head Coach: Arno Havenga.

FLASH QUOTES:

Jennifer Pareja (ESP):
“It was a difficult game, and it was difficult for us to win. At the beginning we were losing but we came back. It’s important to start with a victory.”
Laura Ester (ESP):
“We were so nervous at the first moment. It was hard at the beginning. The objective now is to be the first of our group, and we will go step by step. The public tonight was amazing.”
Miki Oca (ESP Head Coach):
“It was important to win the first match. The first match has been very hard at the beginning. The participation of all the team was really important and as a result a lot of players scored a goal. The Netherlands played great.”
Sabrina van der Sloot (NED):
We started really well, but Spain was really aggressive and we let them go. To play the first game against Spain was very exciting because it’s a really good team. ”
Ilse van der Meijden (NED):
“We started strong but finally Spain won the match. If we had made less mistakes in the personal game probably it wouldn’t have been like this.”
Vivian Sevenich (NED):
“We haven’t had a really good championship start. It was a hard game against Spain.”