Matla breaks own record: fifteen goals in six matches

Ten goals after five match rounds was already impressive. But after Sunday, Matla’s start to the season can definitely be described as spectacular. The Den Bosch striker found the net no fewer than five times in the 9–0 home victory over Victoria: four times from open play and once from a penalty corner. In doing so, she took her league tally from ten to fifteen in a single afternoon.

And those fifteen goals have gone down in history. Since the Hoofdklasse Women began in 1981, no player has ever started a season so productively. The previous record was also held by Matla. In the 2021–22 season, she had scored fourteen goals after six league matches.

Most prolific league starts after six match rounds

• 15 goals – Frédérique Matla (Den Bosch, 2026–2027)
• 14 goals – Frédérique Matla (Den Bosch, 2021–2022)
• 13 goals – Sophie von Weiler (Hilversum, 1985–1986)
• 13 goals – Lisanne Lejeune (HGC, 1986–1987)
• 13 goals – Lisanne Lejeune (HGC, 1987–1988)
• 13 goals – Maartje Paumen (Den Bosch, 2009–2010)
• 13 goals – Maartje Paumen (Den Bosch, 2012–2013)
• 12 goals – Yibbi Jansen (SCHC, 2026–2027)
• 12 goals – Helen Lejeune-Van der Ben (Amsterdam, 1987–1988)

Ninth consecutive season with at least fifteen goals
With her fifteenth goal of the season, Matla reached yet another historic milestone. For the ninth Hoofdklasse season in a row, she has scored at least fifteen league goals.

Only Maartje Paumen maintained such a run for longer. The former Den Bosch player scored at least fifteen goals in ten consecutive seasons, from 2007–2008 to 2016–2017.

Matla has now equalled the run set by Helen Lejeune-van der Ben, who reached the fifteen-goal mark for nine consecutive seasons. What is particularly striking is the timing of Matla’s achievement this season. Whilst fifteen goals are usually only reached later in the league, she has already hit that mark after just six match rounds.

Goalscoring run continues
Matla’s current scoring streak also continued on Sunday. She has now scored in twelve consecutive Hoofdklasse match rounds.

Her personal record stands at eighteen consecutive league matches with at least one goal. That run took place between 2020 and 2022, a streak that yielded a total of 34 goals. The Hoofdklasse record for women is held by Lisanne Lejeune, who scored in twenty consecutive match rounds in 1986–1987.