1. FFV Erfurt vs 1. FC Union Berlin
Womens Regionalliga Nordost, 3. Matchday
1. FFV Erfurt vs
Womens Regionalliga Nordost, 3. Matchday
Union win in Erfurt
Match report
A third win in three: Union's women's team remain unbeaten in the Regionalliga Nordost, winning 4-0 at 1. FFV Erfurt and thus going top of the table for the first time this season.
1. FFV Erfurt: Jorcke - Mittelsdorf, Nehlert, Zelle (46. Langguth), Meyer, Groll, Uhl, Reinhardt, N. Gast, Janssen, J. Gast (46. Chmiel)
1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner - Wildner (75. Scheffler), Gericke, Schindler, Rurack (60. Bach) - Görsdorf, Wimmer (60. Scheel), Heiseler - Spolaczyk (84. Krauss), Youssef (75. Kratz), Bucher
Goals: 0:1 Görsdorf (8.), 0:2 Youssef (14.), 0:3 Rurack (44.), 0:4 Heiseler (81.)
Attendance: 40
Görsdorf and Youssef provide early lead
Union's head coach Ailien Poese made three changes from the side that beat Babelsberg 2-0 last weekend for the trip to Erfurt. Zita Rurack replaced the injured Latoya Bach at left-back and Pauline Wimmer returned to central midfield in place of Luca Scheel after serving her one game suspension.
And because no other goalkeeper was available, curiously, goalkeeping coach Laura Ketzer found herself on the bench as a substitute.
It didn't take long for Union to impose themselves on their hosts at the Sportfporum Johannesplatz pitch, Lisa Görsdorf scoring with the first attack of the game in the eighth minute. And it wasn't long before 17-year-old Nour Youssef followed up with her first competitive goal in the women's game. After a sharp exchange of passes in the 14th minute, the centre forward got gave the opposing goalkeeper, Sophie-Marie Jorcke, no chance.
Union were relentless, ceding no ground to a stunned Erfurt side, pushing them back into their own half constantly. But unlike the last time the two teams met a year ago, when Union led 3-0 after only 20 minutes, but then let their opponents come back into the game so that the score was 4-3 at half-time, this time their confidence showed, particularly in midfield where they won ball after ball.
However, despite some promising build up play, Union failed to carve out any real chances on goal. As the half-time whistle approached it looked like it would stay at 2-0, but with the last bit of action of the half Zita Rurack scored her first goal in a Union shirt from a free-kick.
Heiseler puts the icing on the cake
Possibly with the memories of that last trip here in the back of their minds Union came straight back at Erfurt after the interval, pressing hard and playing with verve.
They were creaqting chances but, however, Lisa Heiseler failed when one-on-one with Jorcke, who also saved a good effort from Elisa Spolaczyk just a few minutes later. Four minutes later still, Spolaczyk's header landed only on top of the Thuringian goal. Union's best chance to make it 4-0 came in the 72nd minute, when Erfurt women were forced into clearing the ball off the line.
In the following minutes, the game was just bobbing along like the clouds in the Erfurt sky, and it seemed as if the score would now remain. But Lisa Heiseler took advantage of a mistake in Erfurt's back line in the 81st minute to score her third goal of the season.
In injury time, goalkeeper Melanie Wagner distinguished herself with a strong save to keep the score to nil.
With victory, Union reached the top of the Regionalliga Nordost for the first time, as Türkiyemspor Berlin (who were in first place due to their better goal difference) were competing in the DFB Pokal this weekend. It was a time to celebrate, Union's start has been almost flawless.
The coach's view on the game
"We are happy," said head coach, Poese, after the final whistle. "We kept another clean sheet, and gave up no real chances apart from that one situation at the end. And we consistently took our chances against a very compact and deep-lying opponent."
A look ahead
Next Sunday, 18.09.2022, sees a big clash with RB Leipzig II at Dörpfeldstraße. The Leipzig U-23 team are currently sitting in second in the table with seven points after three matches.
Kick-off at the Fritz-Lesch-Sportplatz is at 2 pm. Admission is free.
Union's Women Away in Erfurt
Match preview
For their 3rd game in the 2022/23 Regionalliga Nordost season, 1. FC Union Berlin now have to play their first match outside of Berlin. On Sunday, 11 September 2022, 1. FFV Erfurt will welcome Union at the Sportforum Johannesplatz. Kick-off is at 14:00.
The opponents: Consistent Erfurt
1. FFV Erfurt, founded in 1997 as a women's football club only, have established themselves as a constant presense in the Regionalliga Nordost in recent years. The Thuringians have established themselves as a bastion of mid-table consistency, finishing in 7th place for the last three seasons in a row.
Having first reached this position in 2016/17, Erfurt then only played in the fourth-tier Verbandsliga for the following two years, deciding voluntarily not to play in the regional league in order to be able to reposition themselves. They have now been back in the Regionalliga since 2019 and haven't encountered any real relegation worries since then.
And after a 3-1 defeat at the start against Carl Zeiss Jena's second team, Erfurt managed to pick up their first points of the season last weekend. They won 3-1 at Bischofswerdaer FV and are now - oh, how could it be otherwise - in 7th place in the table.
One reason for this consistency is certainly Gino Heinze. The 30-year-old has been Erfurt's head coach since 2015, the longest-serving coach in the league.
Head-to-head: A spectacle in the last encounter
Union and Erfurt have already played each other 16 times, with the balance clearly in favour of Union. The Köpenickers have won twelve, with one draw and only three wins for Erfurt, and that last victory coming more than a decade ago. On 6 November 2011, FFV won 2-0 at home. Since then, the duels have been pretty clear-cut. Recent results including Unions resounding 6-0, (2014), 5-0 (2015) and 3-0 (2019) wins.
However, the last encounter between the two teams in October a year ago was to be a real spectacle at the Sportforum Johannesplatz, Union winning away, 5-4.
The visitors from Köpenick were leading 3-0 after only 20 minutes, so that it looked like they would canter to victory. However, Erfurt did not give up and pulled the score back to 4-3 in Union's favour, still before half-time. In the second half, Union attacker Megan Reichenbach, who scored twice, finally made the difference with her winner to make it 5-3.
Unioner, be warned. Erfurt's 25 year old number 7, Anna Mittelsdorf, scored three goals in that game.
The coach's view on the game
"Erfurt made a statement last week with their win against Bischofswerdaer, and have shown themselves to be attack-minded throughout their preparations for the season," said Ailien Poese, Union's head coach on Wednesday before the trip. "We expect an opponent who are eager to play, but who are also capable of defending well and who can be dangerous time and again, especially from set-pieces".
The 38-year-old is still without Marie Becker, Celine Frank and Sophie Trojahn due to injury. In addition, the team is currently suffering from a slight wave of colds, so that Naika Reissner, Latoya Bach and Chayenne Krebs are still questionable for the squad. Anouk Westphal, who was absent last weekend, will travel to Wolfsburg with the B Juniors. Ginger Schulz, meanwhile, is currently at the U-17 national team training course in Frankfurt. Pauline Wimmer, on the other hand, is ready for action again after her suspension, follwong her red card card against Viktoria on the first day of the season.
