VfL Gummersbach U17 falls short in semi-finals of German championship against Füchse Berlin

GUMMERSBACH. Last Whitsun weekend, the U17s of the VfL Gummersbach handball academy played their two duels against Füchse Berlin on the occasion of the semi-finals of the German championship. After the Gummersbachers had lost the capitals in the first leg after a big fight in front of a breathtaking crowd of 1,100 spectators by 27:31, they were able to win the away game as the first team this season at the young foxes. Despite the 27:25 away win, the four-goal mortgage from the first leg was too big, so that head coach Jan Schwenzfeier’s boys just missed out on the surprise and reaching the final. “It’s nice to end the season with a win. I’m incredibly proud of how we’ve developed as a team throughout the season and how we made it to the semi-finals of the German championship, especially with the highlight game on Friday in front of 1,100 spectators in the SCHWALBE arena. It’s something we’ll all remember,” said Schwenzfeier.

In the first leg, the team from Oberberg presented itself combatively against the physically superior Berliners. On Friday evening, however, the Gummersbacher didn’t get into the game well and made a nervous start on the floor of the SCHWALBE arena, so that after four minutes they were 0:4 behind. The hosts were not impressed by this and by Füchse Berlin’s commanding start, gradually finding their way into the game and fighting their way up to a goal (8:9, 17th minute). After catching up, however, the blue and white made too many mistakes and didn’t act purposefully enough in attack, so that the teams switched sides at 11:15. After the restart, it was again the foxes, who found their way back into the game better and in the 30th minute of the game they even pulled away with five goals for the first time (14:19). But even in this phase, the Gummersbacher didn’t let their heads down, kept calm and scored the 20:20 draw in the 38th minute in the person of the strong Lukas Pacek. The boys showed a strong character performance again, but were not able to set a pinprick with their own lead to make the Berliners tremble. The game was balanced up to 25:26 in minute 46, before the foxes acted more ripped off, braver and cleverer in the final phase and finally secured the first leg victory with 27:31. After the final whistle, the Gummersbacher received a lot of applause from the numerous spectators, despite the defeat. At this point, a big thank you goes to the Sparkasse Gummersbach, whose support made this home game a mega-event that has never been seen before in the youth division of VfL.

With the difficult task of having to catch up four goals, the second leg in Berlin started just three days later. Unlike in the first leg, it was a balanced duel with advantages on the Gummersbacher side from the start. Keeper Felix Löpker in particular, who stole some good chances from Berlin, proved to be a secure backing, so that after ten minutes of play there was a 4:4 draw on the scoreboard. In the 16th minute, the capitals pulled away for the first time with a three-goal lead (5:8), but the blue and whites caught up within a few minutes with a confident and concentrated exploitation of chances (8:8, 20th minute). VfL played into a run and turned the game in their favor so that they went into the half-time break with an 11:9 lead. In the second half, the Gummersbacher initially pulled away and even equalized the deficit from the first leg (14:10, 28th minute), before the foxes fought back and equalized (15:15, 32nd minute). This time the hosts turned up the heat and pulled away again with two goals (16:18, 38th minute). However, the crunch time belonged to the Gummersbachers again, who put everything on the floor again in the last ten minutes. Even if it wasn’t enough to progress in the end, the Schwenzfeier team gave it their all again and secured the 27:25 away win in the Foxes Town, which was sold out with 249 spectators – almost 50 of whom traveled from Gummersbach. “Nevertheless, we are very, very happy that we were able to show that we can hold our own against the favorites for the German championship title. The fact that we manage to win in Berlin, where nobody has won this season, and that also justified our being in the semi-finals,” sums up Schwenzfeier: “Looking at the two games, Berlin deserved to win in the end and we wish them all the best for the final!”

The first-leg goal scorers on the Gummersbach side: Lukas Pacek (8), Leon Kamps (6), Christopher Welter (5), Malte Petersen (4), Carlo Hügelkamp (2), Julius Hein (2)

The second leg scorers on the Gummersbach side: Leon Kamps (8), Lukas Pacek (6), Ben Eickhoff (4), Malte Petersen (4), Christopher Welter (3), Julius Hein (2)