Ekaterina Prokofyeva, who played under head coach Mikhail Nakoryakov when Russia won the world youth crown in Siberia in 2009, had a penalty shot blocked by Dutch goalkeeper Ilse van der Meijden. Never mind, Beliaeva struck with her third centre-forward goal and fourth of the championship — followed by a Anna Timofeeva strike for an impressive 7-3.
The Dutch would not fold and the next four goals went their way with two just before halftime and two after. Russia hit back quickly through Olga Belova with an accurate shot into the bottom left but then the goals dried up. Five minutes later, Netherlands took a timeout with no result and Russia had an 8-7 lead at the final break.
It was the 30th match between Russia and Netherlands at all the major championship, including European. Russia had won seven of the previous eight, only losing one of the two encounters in this year's World League.
Match 22: 17:30, Group A, RUSSIA 12 NETHERLANDS 12
Quarters: 3-3, 4-2, 1-2, 4-5
Referees: Mario Bianchi (ITA), Georgios Stavridis (GRE).
Extra Man: RUS: 2/3. NED: 4/5.
Pens: RUS: 0/1. NED: 1/1.
Teams:
RUSSIA:
Anna Ustyukhina, Diana Antonova, Ekaterina Prokofyeva, Elvina Karimova
(1), Alexandra Antonova (1), Olga Belova (2), Ekaterina Tankeeva (1),
Anna Grineva, Anna Timofeeva (1), Olga Beliaeva (3), Evgeniya Ivanova
(3), Ekaterina Zelentsova, Anna Karnaukh. Head Coach: Mikhail
Nakoryakov.
NETHERLANDS: Ilse van der Meijden, Yasemin Smit (1),
Marloes Nijhuis, Biurakn Hakhverdian, Sabrina van der Sloot (1), Nomi
Stomphorst, Iefke van Belkum (2), Vivian Sevenich (1), Carolina Slagter,
Dagmar Genee (2), Lieke Klaassen (4), Leonie van der Molen (1), Anne
Heinis. Head Coach: Mauro Maugeri.
FLASH QUOTES:
Olga Beliaeva (RUS):
"We are satisfied with the leadership. Now we will take a rest and practice to prepare the next game. About today, it has been an equal and difficult match. They have experienced players. I didn't like our defence, it was better against Spain, but I'm happy.”
Carolina Slagter (NED):
“We created a lot of opportunities after the third quarter. We didn’t score more goals which cost us the victory. The next match will be important and we’ll need to focus. ”
Lieke Klaassen (NED):
“We let them score so easily at the beginning of the game. Now we need to focus on the next game and avoid the mistakes we did today. For us, playing against New Zealand would be easier than China. It will be our last chance for the medals.”