The limits were shown in the first half, increased after the break, but with dwindling strength, the mortgage from the initial phase simply proved to be too high: In the game for third place, TBV Lemgo Lippe defeated SG Flensburg-Handewitt with 23:28 ( 11:17) the lookup. Kevin Möller stood out as Lemgo’s spoilsport, barricading the Flensburg goal with a number of saves – and making four penalty shooters despair.
About the game: Florian Kehrmann made some personnel changes in his starting seven: Emil Buhl Laerke started for Tim Suton on the left backcourt, Kian Schwarzer whirled on the left wing instead of Samuel Zehnder, on the other side Lukas Zerbe instead of Bobby Schagen, Gedeón Guardiola replaced Jan Brosch at the circle. But the first round started extremely badly for Lipper: First, Zehnder only hit Kevin Möller’s standing leg from the point before some inaccuracies and misses crept into Lemgo’s attacking game after Laerke’s equalizer to make it 1-1. The surprisingly chosen 5:1 defense with Lukas Zerbe at the top had no effect in the early stages. Flensburg’s 4-0 run forced Kehrmann to take the first time-out after almost nine minutes. From then on, TBV went into the majority game, Tim Suton and Bobby Schagen came on for Laerke and Versteijnen, Simak was supposed to support G. Guardiola on the circle. But even the 7: 6 did not bring the hoped-for trend reversal. Although Lukas Hutecek managed a steal to make it 2:5 shortly afterwards, the TBV kept struggling in attacking the position and was forced to make inaccurate shots. Because the retreat behavior was also visibly lost and Flensburg played into a frenzy over the fast middle, Maik Machulla’s team hurried away effortlessly to 2:9 – a hefty mortgage.
Consequently, Kehrmann got his men together again after less than 13 minutes. Offensive solutions and goalkeeper saves were urgently needed in order not to let the contact break off completely. And Lipper took heart: Within two minutes, TBV scored as many goals as in the twelve minutes before – Hutecek hammered the ball at a good 126 kilometers per hour to make it 4:10. Because the North Germans stayed on the trigger, the slightly improved attacking performance of the Lippers was not noticeably reflected in the result. From the 20th minute, Lemgo’s failed attempts literally skyrocketed, so that the SG hurried away to 7:16. But: The TBV shook itself – and found new fortune with the substitute Niko Blaauw. After Jim Gottfridsson hit the post, Lemgo’s young Dutchman scored twice – first after a strong one-on-one, then with a breakthrough. The TBV was now at eye level, but ran behind the 2:9 start. Kian Schwarzer shortened the lead to 11:17 before the Lemgo defense blocked another shot – the siren sounded at the wrong time.
Because after the change of sides, the TBV got a bit out of step again. First Möller parried against Hutecek, then Niels Versteijnen only hit the woodwork in a counterattack. Nevertheless, Lemgo didn’t give up, almost got four goals, but G. Guardiola, like many of his teammates, failed that afternoon due to Flensburg’s rock solid, Kevin Möller, who at times had parried half of Lemgo’s throws. So it happened as it had to happen – and the fourth in the table pulled away to 14:22 through goals from Gottfridsson and Johannes Golla. The many failed attempts from the seven-meter point were also a symbol of an unlucky performance. First, Zehnder failed for the second time at Möller, then Bobby Schagen, as the third shooter, converted from the point to 15:23, but also missed shortly afterwards. Versteijnen was also allowed to try his hand at the point in the final minutes, but nailed the ball to the crossbar at 18:25 – it was tearing your hair out.
Because the outcome was clear early on, Florian Kehrmann also let the youngest players in the squad off their leash in front of the great backdrop in the Lanxess Arena. After Niko Blaauw, Thomas Houtepen and Thore Oetjen from Team HandbALL also enjoyed the goal celebration. And it turned out: Although the people of Lipper had failed (too) much, in the end they were proud to have been part of the REWE Final4 again this year.
TBV trainer Florian Kehrmann: “Overall we did well here, we played a great game against Magdeburg yesterday. Today the last strength and the last will were missing. But Flensburg was also very compact in defense and had an outstanding goalkeeper. So we take these two games with us as experience, we are happy to have been able to be part of this great event and now we are preparing for everyday life in the league.”
TBV Lemgo Lippe: Zecher, Kastelic; Hutecek (6), Zehnder (1/1), Brosch, Simak (1), Laerke (1), Schagen (1/1), Blaauw (3), Schwarzer (3), Suton (1), Zerbe (1) , Versteijnen (1), G. Guardiola (1), Houtepen (2), Oetjen (1)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: Buric, Moller; Golla (4), Hald Jensen (3), Kirschberger, Einarsson (5), Larsen, Sogard (2), Gottfridsson (5), Hansen (1), Pedersen (1), Jakobsen (4/4), Semper, Mensing (2), Kjaer Möller (1), Red
