The hosts got off to a better start in the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle. It quickly became 5:2 in favor of the owls, who – stuck in the middle of a relegation battle – were under a lot of pressure. At Eintracht, Pouya Norouzi had given the green light for an assignment in consultation with the medical department, despite tearing the ankle ligament. The Iranian national player, together with Valentin Schmidt and Philipp Vorlicek, formed the first line-up from the back. But not for too long: Because the ankle soon started causing problems again, head coach Stefan Neff had to do what he had been doing all week: look for alternatives, find solutions.
And despite Norouzi’s early failure, Eintracht resisted, even started to turn the game around. Philipp Vorlicek’s 8:8 (18 th ) equalized again, shortly afterwards Valentin Schmidt (six goals in the first half, three of them from seven meters) gave Eintracht the lead at 10:9. It lasted until the half-time whistle, although with a little more luck, even more than “just” a 14:13 would have been possible.
Eintracht started the second half with Mats Grzesinski replacing Tobi Mahncke between the posts and the youngster made a good start with several saves. It was 18:14 after Theo Bürgin’s counter-attack hit after 37 minutes. It looked good because the green and yellow defended with commitment, with Tilman Pröhl and Lukas Kister working tirelessly in the inner block.
But the owls didn’t let themselves be shaken off, they threw their physical presence into the balance. But: Hagen’s 3-goal advantage remained. Mats Grzesinski and Tilman Pröhl in the back and Tim Stefan in attack were the factors, and Pouya Norouzi also helped out, at least defensively, from time to time.
And yet: Outnumbered and with a much better goalkeeper performance, the owls crawled in and equalized at 21:21 – the starting signal for an intense final quarter of an hour. 22:24, 24:26, then even the 24:27 by Luca Klein, who celebrated his comeback after a long injury break.
Eulen coach Michael Biegler took his third and last time out (54:10). Seven field players Ludwigshafen. However, this measure, she did not move. Several Grzesinski saves, Vorlicek’s empty net goal to 29:24 (58th) – that was the victory that became even clearer in the final seconds.
Source: VfL Eintracht Hagen / Photo: Reis
