A BVB women’s handball team severely weakened by injuries lost their big Bundesliga clash against Thüringer HC at Halle Wellinghofen by a 33-25 (17-12) scoreline. The game was over as a contest shortly after the break when THC quickly extended their lead to seven goals. Despite the clear result, BVB fought valiantly across the 60 minutes.

The scenario:
BVB went into the game in third place in the table with a 10-2 points tally and had suffered only one previous defeat at home to Metzingen. Thüringen were in fourth place with 8-4 points following their defeats against Bietigheim and Bensheim-Auerbach. The meetings last season had produced a 30-30 draw in the reverse fixture and a 40-34 defeat in Thüringen. In the third match, BVB had beaten THC 28-23 in the third-place play-off of the EHF European League. 

Personnel matters:
The list of absentees did not get any shorter before the match against Thüringen. In addition to the two long-term injuries to Dana Bleckmann and Lena Degenhardt, who have both ruptured their cruciate ligament, Zoë Sprengers was also out with a thigh injury. However, she is expected to be back for the European League qualifier on Sunday. Pivot Emma Olsson was also ruled out at short notice due to illness. But captain Alicia Stolle was back after a four-week injury lay-off. 

The match & analysis: 
It quickly became apparent that BVB would have problems with their positional attack against the well set-up THC defence. After only eight minutes, Annika Lott put THC 5-2 ahead. While BVB committed many simple mistakes and losses of possession, the visitors scored a number of quick goals as a result. To make matters worse, the usually reliable seven-metre thrower Lena Hausherr was twice kept out by THC goalkeeper Dinah Eckerle.

After a quarter of an hour, the visitors from Thüringen led 9-6. Annika Lott alone had already beaten BVB keeper Sarah Wachter five times by this point. Time for Henk Groener to call a first time-out.

Alicia Stolle was then replaced by Frida Rønning, who immediately reduced the deficit to 10-8 (20). BVB pulled close again when Carmen Campos and Haruno Sasaki scored for 11-9 and 11-10 respectively (22). Would BVB be able to keep up this tempo? Lisa Antl played very well in the pivot role without any replacement, while Harma van Kreij, Carmen Campos and Frida Rønning gave their all but were increasingly denied by Dinah Eckerle. Overall, there was a slight lack of aggression against a THC defence known for their strength. THC extended their lead to a comfortable 17-12 one minute before the break and the whistle sounded with the margin at five goals.

The visitors continued to defend their lead at the start of the second period and gave BVB hardly any room for manoeuvre. The East Germans cleverly imposed their game on Borussia, who scored twice in a row via pivot Lisa Antl but could not prevent THC from stretching their lead to 21-14 only five minutes into the second half. A seven-goal cushion already meant the game was all-but over.

Even though BVB became increasingly tired on account of their personnel shortage, the team resisted until the final whistle, did not give up, fought until the last minute and showed character. However, the gaps in the BVB defence could not be offset by the two goalkeepers Sarah Wachter and Tess Lieder. By the time the 60 minutes were up, the score stood at 33-25 to coach Herbert Müller’s team.

Reactions: 
Coach Henk Groener: “We knew the situation with our five injury absentees. But I must pay the team a compliment, we were within four goals, that was bitter. We played at full-throttle for long spells, the team showed character. But we were missing our backcourt players to score easy goals from time to time. We had to work for our goals.” 

Sarah Wachter: “We did not start the game well, the defence was not solid. We lost the match in defence. Now we need to clear our heads again by Sunday in order to win in the European League.”

Outlook: BVB will play host to Romanian representative HC Dunarea Braila in the third and final EHF European League qualifying round on Sunday 12 November. The match will be played at the Helmut-Körnig-Halle, with throw-off at 14:00 CET. Tickets can be purchased here. The Bundesliga campaign will continue on Wednesday 15 November with a home game against Sport-Union Neckarsulm.

Women’s handball team: Lieder, Wachter; Hausherr (3), Kusian, Antl (4), van Kreij (4), Stolle, Ossenkopp (3), Sasaki (2), Rønning (3), Egeling, Heimann, Campos (6/3)