South Africa had secured their spot in the top 8 by virtue of finishing second in the pool stages to England, while Netherlands had swatted away the challenge of USA, Canada and Zimbabwe in belligerent fashion.

It didn’t take as long as the South Africans would have hoped as the Dutch opened the scoring with a Dutch goal through Jip Dicke. Receiving the ball with her back to goal, she felt Mishka Ellis closing the gap, took the ball on the reverse side and finished superbly.

After good effort from the South Africans, it was just 7 seconds remaining on the quarter when they fell to a 2-0 deficit. Noor Omrani created a pocket of space fired in a shot which was saved by Ellis but the save went to Dicke who instinctively got her stick to the ball which looped over Ellis’s head and into the goal to the delight of the Dutch.

In the second quarter South Africa should have pulled a goal back when both Onthathile Zulu and Bianca Wood both had one-on-one chances but ultimately the chances were snatched at. South Africa were also awarded for their efforts with a penalty corner, but three shots at goal that arose were all lacking the quality to test the Dutch. South Africa were also kept honest as Ellis had to save a penalty corner just before the half-time break and it remained 2-0 at the Interval.

South Africa had another penalty corner early on in the third quarter, but it was fired just wide of the post of Hanrie Louw. Jip Dicke then almost completed her hat-trick when she capitalised on a South African error. South Africa broke again through Zulu and at the resultant penalty corner the South Africans thought they had levelled. The ball fell to Chante Ferreira who tried to bobble the ball home, but Sophia ter Kuile produced a fantastic save.

As the South Africans added threat to the game, they were sucker punched by two quick Dutch goals. Omrani scored from the next play as she effected a turnover and showed her quality with a fine strike. Luna Fokke, who had been fairly silent in the game so far, rocked up with a penalty corner, which Ellis will be disappointed she didn’t keep out after getting her pad to the ball.

South Africa had another penalty corner in the final quarter, but it deflected over the crossbar off a defenders stick, and Netherlands would write the final chapter of this tale with Luna Fokke scoring a second for herself and a fifth for the side.

Netherlands marches on to the semi-final where they will meet India while the South Africans will now play Korea in the 5-8 playoff bracket.