The BVB women have beaten the third team of Bundesliga club SGS Essen by a 2-1 (0-1) scoreline. In the final friendly fixture ahead of the competitive restart, goals from Ann-Katrin Lau and Lea Rogge-Herper sealed a come-from-behind win for Borussia Dortmund.

The Niederrheinliga side from Essen started with a lot of tempo and created the first chances of the match, with Caroline Junge opening the scoring for SGS on the 13-minute mark. As the match progressed, the Bezirksliga footballers increasingly got to grips with the visitors and twice went close to a possible equaliser via Mia Macarena Bedarf (23) and Marie Grothe (43).

The leveller came directly after the restart when substitute Ann-Katrin Lau slotted home a cross from Bedarf to make it 1-1. The recently crowned indoor city champions then got their reward for a strong second half by scoring a winner in the 79th minute, with Lea Rogge-Herper rounding off some good build-up work from Mandy Reinhardt to make it 2-1. “We moved the ball about well in the second period, created good chances for ourselves and ultimately won deservedly against a solid opponent,” was the conclusion drawn by coach Thomas Sulewski. 

The BVB women will play their first competitive fixture of 2023 on Sunday 5 March. The autumn champions will be away to Rot Weiss Ahlen at 15:15 CET. “We’ve worked hard and learned many important lessons. And as we’ve almost exclusively faced higher-division opponents, we can live with the results too,” said Sulewski of the mid-season preparations, which his team have ended with an even record of two victories, two defeats and one draw. 

BVB women: Schröer (Scheibe, 46) – Gerres (Hentrich, 46), Rechenbach (Pörteners, 84), Glänzer (Zabell, 46), Pörteners (Klemann, 58) – Bergmann (Becker, 46) – Herbig (Lau, 46), Grothe, Billig (Rogge-Herper, 46), Bedarf – Kaul (Reinhardt, 46)

Goals: 0-1 Junge (13), 1-1 Lau (49) 2-1 Rogge-Herper (79)

(df)