Two 4-0 defeats, at the hands of reigning champions Den Bosch and a Hamburg side featuring Irish international Nikki Evans, have left Loreto facing a play-off to avoid finishing last in the EuroHockey Club Cup in Amsterdam, the quality of the opposition thus far proving too formidable for the Dublin side.
There was no shame in either loss, though, against two of the strongest clubs in Europe, Den Bosch having won 16 out of the last 19 tournaments. Loreto, then meet Belarus’s Ritm Grodno in Monday morning’s seventh-eighth place play-off.
UCD, meanwhile, were pipped to a place in the final of the second tier EuroHockey Club Trophy tournament in Kent, their 3-2 defeat by Russia’s Moscomsport on Sunday allowing hosts Holcombe to overtake them at the top of pool A when they beat Edinburgh later in the day.
An agonising defeat it was too for the students, two goals in two minutes from captain Leah McGuire and Sarah Patton drawing them level after they had trailed 2-0, only for Ekaterina Shaburova to get the winner for Moscomsport 60 seconds later.
The students had opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Holcombe, Ellen Curran levelling for them in the second half, before a fine 5-1 win over Edinburgh on Saturday, Sarah Young, Nina Heisterkamp, Niamh Carey, McGuire and Michelle Carey scoring a goal apiece. They meet Belgium's Waterloo Ducks in the third-fourth place play-off on Monday afternoon.
