Fortuna pull away from Unitas after half-time: 32‑18, eleven from Van der Steen

Fortuna, last season's losing finalist indoors, hosted Unitas in the first round, in their first home match of the season. Fortuna have a new coach this season, who forms the technical duo with Joost Preuninger. Unitas are celebrating the club's 65th anniversary this season; the club was founded in 1961.

Unitas played without Lynn Bijkerk, who is with Oranje at the beach korfball World Championship in China. The Unitas coach put Mike van Boven and Matté Lipke together in a zone for the first time. "We have no players added from outside", he said beforehand.

Fortuna started with the eight players from last season's zones; Nikki Boerhout and Levi van Nieuwenhuijzen were on the bench. Boerhout, Hoek and Wildschut won the European Championship in the Czech Republic with Oranje in October. About Daan Preuninger, the Fortuna coach said beforehand: "I simply expect that if he keeps this up, he will really be back in the line-up in the short term."

Read more: Fortuna are favourites again, with Boerhout and a new coaching duo

Fortuna start with 4‑0

Fortuna came out of the blocks fast. Fleur Hoek, Wouter Wildschut, Van der Steen and Laura van der Linden scored long shots, and in the 4th minute it was 4‑0. Femke Faber opened the scoring for Unitas in the 6th minute: 4‑1.

At that score Unitas had to substitute Daan Reijgersberg. Kris Boere came on and made it 4‑2. Unitas then swapped the men, so the Van Boven and Lipke duo did not last long. "That's new this year in any case, but it didn't last very long", Van Boven said afterwards.

Unitas come back to 10‑8

From 5‑3, Fortuna pulled away with five goals in a row to 10‑3 in the 12th minute. Then it was Unitas' turn: with five goals in a row they came back to 10‑8 in the 19th minute. Hoek put the half-time score on the board in the 25th minute: 14‑11.

"We fall behind very quickly in that phase, 10‑3", the Unitas coach said afterwards. According to him, Fortuna stalled after that: "But anyway, we do take advantage of it. 14‑11. And they were frighteningly sharp again in the second half." According to him, substitute Mark Kreikamp brought calm to the organisation.

Fortuna pull away to 30‑14 after half-time

Straight after half-time, Renée van Ginkel, Roos van Groen and Van der Steen made it 17‑11. After Faber's 17‑12, Fortuna scored six goals in a row, to 23‑12 in the 34th minute. From 23‑14 another seven followed, to 30‑14 in the 40th minute: the biggest margin of the match.

Substitute Levi van Nieuwenhuijzen, who came on for Merijn Mensink, made it 31‑15. Faber scored the last goal late in the match: 32‑18. Unitas scored seven times after half-time, Fortuna eighteen times.

According to the Fortuna coach, Unitas defended with two players on Hoek, and at half-time they agreed that the ball could then go straight to Van Ginkel. "That happened a number of times after the break too, so those are nice things", he said. "I think that in general we defended really well, so I'm happy with this win."

Van der Steen on the way to a thousand

Van der Steen scored eleven goals, two of them from the penalty spot. He is approaching 1,000 goals: the Club van Duizend is in sight. Hoek scored seven times, the last from the penalty spot, and is working towards her 900th goal in the Korfbal League.

For Unitas, Faber scored six goals. Mark Kreikamp, who had retired and rejoined the squad, scored three times. "In the second half we are then completely outclassed", said Van Boven.

Van der Linden played on her birthday. "You win 32‑18 and for a first league match more than satisfied", she said. "They go double coverage on Fleur and yes, we still don't manage to anticipate that straight away in the first half. So I think that's a compliment to them." Last season Fortuna beat Unitas 36‑28 in Delft.

The Fortuna coach immediately stated the ambition: "We are one of the favourites and we are going 100% for gold." Last season Fortuna were already the team that scored most often. Unitas play at home against PKC next week.