Union’s Women Win Again

On Sunday afternoon 1. FC Union Berlin’s women’s team were able to put a definitive end to a run of three games without a win, beating Blau-Weiss Hohen-Neuendorf 6-0. Elisa Spolaczyk stood out with four goals, with Nour Youssef and Luise Wildner also scoring in Union’s last away game of 2022.

Blau-Weiss Hohen Neuendorf: Depenbrock – Buchwalder, Urbanski, Varamann, Pistorius, Friedrich (Pausch), Kollek, Hörbe, Labidi (Kemnitz), Thole, Sierig

1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner – Wildner, Gericke, Schulz, Bach (Reichenbach) – Scheel, Kratz (Fran, Heiseler (Trojahn) – Krauss, Spolaczyk (Bucher), Youssef (Scheffler)

Goals: 1:0 Spolaczyk (14.), 2:0 Youssef (33.), 3:0 Spolaczyk (51.), 4:0 Spolaczyk (52.), 5:0 Spolaczyk (59.), 6:0 Wildner (89.)

Attendance: 141

Spolaczyk gives Union an early lead, Youssef doubles it

Even if it was bitterly cold at pitchside, there was at least a warm reunion before kick off. Christian Liedtke, Hohen-Neuendorff’s head coah, had worked for Union’s women’s and girls’ department in various capacities from 2016 to 2022, finally taking charge as head coach last season before he and the club parted ways in the summer.

The friendlinesses and formalities were however soon put to one side, and Union started the game strongly, immediately putting Hohen-Neuendorff under pressure, carving out a good chance in the first minute when Elisa Spolaczyk’s shot flew just over the bar. Then, in only the 4th minute, the ball was in the net, but Nour Youssef was adjudged offside and her goal was disallowed. So it wasn’t with the greatest of surprises that Union finally took the lead after quarter of an hour, Spolaczyk with an uncompromising finish after a fine through ball from Lisa Heiseler.

After that, Union were in complete control, with their hosts confined almost entirely to their own half. In the 33rd minute it was Youssef who increased the lead to 2-0 with a shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Union created further chances, but failed to capitalise on them. Shortly before the break, both Heiseler and Youssef saw shots go over the bar. The score, however, remained 2-0 at half-time.

Spolaczyk’s goal festival

Union started the second half as they had finished the first, utterly dominant, and almost immediately were making it clear there was little question as to who would win this game. In the 51st minute, Spolaczyk’s scored her second to make it 3-0. Similarly to her first, the centre-forward was sent through by Heiseler, slotting home with confident ease. A minute later, the 24-year-old completed her hat-trick with a low shot from just outside the box, and just ten minutes later, she scored her fourth on the stroke of the hour to make it 5-0, rolling the ball over the line after a Lina Krauss shot from distance was dropped by the keeper.

Union allowed themselves to relax after that, but without relinquishing control of the game. Goalkeeper Melanie Wagner remained without a save of note to make all day. Further good news came in the season-debuts of Sophie Trojahn and Celine Frank, back after long injuries.

Luise Wildner scored the sixth and final goal in the 89th minute.

With 26 points, Union remain in third place in the table, behind city rivals Viktoria Berlin (33) and Türkiyemspor (27).

The views on the game

“We completely dominated the game from the first minute,” said Union head coach, Ailien Poese after the final whistle, “and those goals in the second half were the reward. In the end, it was a well deserved victory”.

Goal scorer Nour Youssef was also happy. “We started the game well, were determined to get three points and score a lot of goals. We managed to do that.”

“I thought we were very dominant. We also took our chances. Sometimes we could perhaps have played a bit more calmly, but overall we did very well,” said centre-back Ginger Schulz, who was in the starting eleven for the first time in the Regionalliga.

Outlook

Next Sunday, 11.12.2022, Union’s last match of the first half of this season will kick off at 13:00 against bottom-of-the-table, Rostocker FC, at Dörpfeldstraße.