England produced the performance of the tournament to surge past Israel to win 12-5 and become Women’s European Champions for the fourth time in a row.
England led from the early stages and never relinquished the advantage, restricting the dangerous Israeli attack to just five goals, while themselves scoring at regular intervals to pull off an impressive victory.
It was a repeat of the 2019 Euros final in which England defeated Israel
Israel came into the game as the top scorers in the competition and with four of the top five point scorers in the tournament, but England’s defence had also conceded the fewest goals and once again set about frustrating their opposition.
Two composed possessions early on gave England a 2-0 lead through Jordan Carr and Milly Home, before Israel’s firepower responded with two of their own to tie the game.
Israel thought they had gone ahead but attacker Zoe Martin was penalised for a dangerous follow through off a free position after brave defending from Emma Oakley and England used the numerical adavtnage to great effect.
Home got her second of the game with her trademark twizzler finish before Georgie Southorn doubled the lead off a free position for a 4-2 1/4 time lead.
England continued to ride the momentum from the first 15 as Tilly Shires extended the advantage, before Martin was able to cut it back to 5-3.
Possessions had been fairly even throughout and Israel had outshot England in the first quarter, but England’s defence had been resolute, offering few looks and locking down the key attackers to see Israel’s gameplan largely nullified.
England used this frustration to really turn the screw in attack - Home, who delivered a game-leading four goal, two assist performance first set up Liv Wimpenny to score, before she added another herself.
And when Israel were penalised with a yellow just before half-time, England made them pay, Sofia Wise getting a third goal unanswered with 15 seconds in the half to give England a huge 8-3 lead at the break.
The game continued in largely the same vain, and while Israel did score two minutes into the third quarter, England refused to allow their opposition to build any momentum, forcing turnovers and Dylan Whittington in goal repelling any shots on target.
Anna Neville was next on the scoreboard, taking a pinpoint feed from Cece Green as she cut to the middle to fire home to great applause.
It took another 12 minutes for Israel to score, just before the 3/4 time, to make it 9-5 and by that point the comeback looked unlikely.
Through patient, accurate attack and strong defensive play seemed to have broken the Israeli efforts and it was a fairly comfortable final quarter in which England outshot Israel 8-1 and added three goals, again Southorn and Home; while Ella Cohen entered to round off the scoring in the final minute to get the celebrations going early.
A final 12-5 scoreline demonstrating England’s dominance across the field in an impressive final performance to bring the trophy home once again with a young team that really rose to the occasion of the final.
England 12-5 Israel (4-2; 4-1; 1-2; 3-0)
England Scorers: Milly Home (4G, 2A), Georgie Southorn (2G), Sofia Wise (1G, 1A), Jordan Carr (1G), Ella Cohen (1G), Anna Neville (1G), Tilly Shires (1G), Liv Wimpenny (1G), Cece Green (1A)