Defeat in Metz: Women’s handballers lose final friendly

Henk Groener’s team travelled away to Metz Handball on Saturday to play their final pre-season friendly before the new season kicks off at home to Oldenburg on 9 September. The expected reunion with Alina Grijseels did not take place, however. The former long-term captain of BVB was carrying an injury and was not available to play for her new club. But that did little to stop the French champions setting the tone.

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In addition, BVB spurned several chances and did not always consistently see through their attacks. Sarah Wachter might have shone with several saves in the first half but Metz performed very dominantly and took in a 17-12 lead at the break. The home team, who are already starting their new season on Wednesday and are therefore significantly further along in their preparations, consistently took their chances and ultimately claimed a 37-25 victory.

“We were shown our limits in both halves. Metz are a top team in the Champions League and were simply superior to us in terms of tempo play. We gave everything as a team and battled very hard but were lacking quality and consistency in certain phases. If you do that, Metz will simply pull away from you. But it was an important training match and we will definitely learn our lessons from it,” explained head coach Groener.

Women’s handball team: Lieder, Wachter; Hausherr (6/4), Sprengers (1), Kusian (2), Antl (2), Degenhardt (1), Stolle (3), Ossenkopp (3), Olsson (1), Rønning (1), Bleckmann (4), Costa (1)