1. FC Union Berlin drew 1-1 with VfL Bochum in front of more than five thousand people in their final home game of 2024 on Sunday afternoon. Pia Metzker opened the scoring for the hosts, only for them to be pegged back through Nina Kerkhof’s wonder-strike, and though by far the better side, the point keeps them in second place in the table.

1. FC Union Berlin: Bösl – Weiß, Becker, Steinert – Metzker (64. Sakar), Janez (74. Reissner), Frank, Moraitou, Halverkamps – D. Orschmann, Heiseler 

VfL Bochum: Närdemann – Wilhelm, Wenzel, Haase – Freutel, Angrick, Huber (70. Karwatzki), Moczarkski, Kerkhof – Angerer (85. Klostermann), Marques (77. Hoppius) 

The starting XI:

Ailien Poese made two changes from the side that started the narrow cup loss to Eintracht Frankfurt a couple of weeks ago. In goal was Cara Bösl, behind a back three of Judith Steinert, Marie Becker and, in for the injured Eleni Markou, Anna Weiß.

Pia Metzker and Antonia Halverkamps were on the flanks, left and right, respectively, with Fatma Sakar given a rest, while Athanasia Moraitou and Korina Janež were ahead of Celine Frank in the middle. Dina Orschmann and, captain, Lisa Heiseler up front.  

Attendance: 5.478 

Goals: 1:0 Metzker (22.), 1:1 Kerkhof (29.) 

Metzker’s opener is cancelled out by Kerhof’s beauty

By any measure 2024 has been an astonishing year in the history of 1. FC Union Berlin’s women’s team. As the last hinrunde came to an end they were playing at the beautiful, if shabby Fritz-Lesch Sportplatz. They were topping the Regionalliga Nordost, too, but few would have dared to dream what would come. The double. Promotion. The move to the Alte Försterei, and with it the seven highest attendances in 2. Liga history.

And here they were to round it all off, as the drizzle hung in the freezing Köpenick gloom, over 5,000 people were there to see Union host VFL Bochum. Second versus third, with the top of the table still possible before Christmas. That it didn’t come is hardly terrible. Union were superb in securing second; Bochum could consider themselves fortunate with the draw.

What a ride it had been. But it had also been tough. Injuries had made their mark on a small squad. The rigors and tumults taking their toll.

But if one thing had defined Union’s season so far, it had been their solidity at the back, even in the absence of Katja Orschmann and now Eleni Markou, and Judith Steinert encapsulated this perfectly with her early challenge on Anna Moczarski. It was hard and timed perfectly. Though Bochum’s centre forward had suddenly found the space to run towards goal, the chance meant little.

But Bochum were tough, and Lilian Huber got an early yellow card for a crashing tackle on Dina Orschmann. Athanasia Moraitou whipped the ball into the box and Marie Becker, Steinert’s almost ever-present partner at the back, was a whisker away from her first goal of the season, forcing a good stop from Kari Närdemann in the Bochum goal from her well-placed header.

Anna Weiß, playing alongside the pair at the back, advanced, after almost ten minutes as Union pressed hard bit shot wide of the Bochum upright. Celine Frank lobbed one from 25 yards that dipped just too late over the bar.

Bochum, however, would come closest after 15 minutes when Janine Angrick clipped a well struck free kick from the edge of the box onto the bar, though Cara Bösl seemed to have it covered.

Union were making inroads down the Bochum right hand side, both Athanasia Moraitou and Lisa Heiseler playing in Orschmann and Antonia Halverkamps respectively with the sweetest of balls switched out to the flank, but for all the intricacies of their play, it was with a certain inevitably that Union’s opener would come from a set-piece, as they have so often this season.

Moraitou crossed deep into the box from 30 yards out, to the right, where Pia Metzker had snuck in at the back post to bundle over the line as bodies flew all around her in the melee.

The goal had been coming, and Union looked to press home their advantage straight away, Halverkamps having the next chance as she sliced her shot a little too close to Närdemann only a minute later.

Bochum, however, weren’t to be so easily discounted – they were third with good reason and had been promoted to the 2. Liga with similar ambitions to Union this year – and Nina Kerkhoff equalised with almost half an hour played with a wonderful piece of skill. She picked the ball up 25 yards from goal, drifted inside past two defenders before bending a superb effort with her right foot, past the despairing lunge of Bösl and inside the top corner. There was little the keeper could have done to stop it.

The game was swinging both ways now, and Union were sure they had equalised when Heiseler bustled her way into the box to plant a superb header past Närdemann after 35 minutes, but the referee, Jacqueline Hermann immediately blew her whistle ruling it out, saying she had fouled her marker on the way in to meet Anna Weiß’s cross. It seemed harsh, and the captain seemed stunned by the decision.

But they weren’t to be daunted by it, they shook themselves down and came again and again.

Janež was increasingly influential in midfield, and she came close soon after, following some more intricate play between her and Orschmann. She then had the ball nipped off her toe as she prepared to shoot as Union tightened their grip through the middle, their short passes causing havoc amongst the deep sitting Bochum defence, and it took a brilliant stop from Närdemann to palm away Halverkamps’ volley with the half almost up, the move having started with Becker and her smart tackle at the back before going on a loping, elegant run up past the half way line.

Antonia Haase then somehow denied Heiseler from getting her shot away from inside the six-yard-box, sprawling on the wet turf, an immovable object on the floor of the box.

Though they went into the break a goal apiece, Ailien Poese was surely the happier coach at the break

Union dominate, but fail to break through

Union started the second half strongly, with Orschmann making two excellent runs, inside left, past Franziska Wenzel, the second of which lead to a dangerous cross that Haase had to slide in to clear away to safety over her own bar.

They were passing the ball excellently, fluidly through the middle and it was after another lovely move that saw Union’s next chance. Celine Frank shot, left footed, just past the top corner. Frank’s next moment came at the other end, after Becker’s incisive challenge saw her control the ball at chest height, before lifting it over Wenzel on the turn to spark another break.

As Union as they come – she has been at the club for over a decade - Frank has been one of the unsung heroes of this campaign, and she was involved in another move, from Weiß to Becker to her to Steinert, as Union passed their way with a rapier’s edge through the midfield.

But the game slowed as the half went on, and Ailien Poese made her first change not long after the hour when she took off the goalscorer, Metzker, replacing her with Fatma Sakar, and the new player was immediately involved, beating Kerkhof for strength having already tried for pace as she received Weiß’s raking ball out from the back.

Bochum were by now largely playing in their own half, pinned back, and even when Mara Wilhelm broke upfield, Becker, as ever, was there to tackle her cleanly, conceding the corner but destroying their momentum.

Union pushed on. It took a last-ditch lunge from Wilhelm to deny Heiseler from inside the box, and Poese looked to put more pressure on the tiring Bochum defence as she replaced the superb Janež with Naika Reissner with 20 minutes to play.

Reissner, too, was in the thick of things straight away, and she skipped past one player before setting up Sakar as they cut the Bochum backline to shreds. Sakar took her time and picked her spot, but her side-footed shot rolled agonisingly wide of the back post.

With the clock ticking away, Union were striving ever harder to re-establish their lead, but somehow Bochum held on, even as Reissner was causing havoc, both Haase and Maja Hünnemeyer somehow stopping her as she darted into the box. Närdemann soon dived to stop another Halverkamps effort that seemed certain to be heading for the target.

Orschmann found Sakar who crossed for Reissner who laid the ball off for Halverkamps, but her shot, this time, went wide. With 87 minutes now played, the ball just wouldn’t seem to go in. Nor would it when Steinert flicked Moraitou’s next clever free kick an inch past the back post.

As Bochum had a final flurry with 90 minute’s played, the ball flicked unfortunately off Marie Becker and out for a corner. She howled in frustration, desperate to try and start off a final counter, a last throw of the dice to get the win that their performance had deserved. They had given everything, but it just was to be one of those days.

Poese, of course, was focussed on the here and now, saying “we definitely gave away two points today. Bochum defended passionately and always managed to get a foot in, but with the opportunities we had, we simply have to score more goals. That's why the disappointment is a bit bigger right now.”

But it shows how far they have come, that a draw at home in front of over 5,000 people to keep them second in their last home game of the year in the 2. Liga would feel like that. Disappointment, after all, is always relative.