1. FC Union Berlin beat FSV Gütersloh 6-4 on penalties following a superb 2-2 draw on Tuesday evening. Having gone a goal down at the end of the first half Athanasia Moraitou equalised with a fine free kick, before Eleni Markou made it 2-1 with her first touch of the game. Cara Bösl, though, would be the hero of the night, saving twice in the shoot-out, while Katja and Dina Orschmann, Lisa Heiseler and Markou all scored theirs.

FSV Gütersloh 2009: Rolle – Stojan, Schuster, Schmidt (87. Kilic) – Kappmeier (116. Rädeker), Bultmann (87. Wisniewski), Tellenbröker, Baum – Leubner (82. Preuß), Aradini, Schröder (94. Tappe) 

1. FC Union Berlin: Bösl – Niesler (83. Markou), Becker, Steinert – Sakar (74. Weiß), Janez (74. K. Orschmann), Moraitou, Metzker – Halverkamps (83. Reissner), Abu Sabbah (64. Heiseler), D. Orschmann 

The starting XI

There were new faces to be seen in Ailien Poese’s first starting line-up for 2024/25, starting with Cara Bösl in goal, behind a back three of Charleen Niesler, Marie Becker and Judith Steinert. Pia Metzker and Fatma Sakar were the flying wing backs, left and right, respectively, either side of a midfield duo of Athanasia Moraitou and Korina Janež. This left Dina Orschmann and Antonia Halverkamps supporting Sarah Abu Sabbah up top.

Attendance: 730 
Goals: 1-0 Schröder (44.), 1-1 Moraitou (54.); 1-2 Markou (84.), 2-2 Stojan (90.) 

Union competitive after hosts’ strong start. Schröder finishes finely before the break

Union’s first competitive match of the 2023/24 season was always going to be tough. Indeed, after the final whistle, after more than 120 minutes of the hardest of battles, Ailien Poese said “‘I'm exhausted, but also very happy.” But she was playing it down. The Union fans left in the stadium were in delirious, joyous pieces at the end.

But it would take a long time to get that far.

The first half had barely started when Union had their first worry, as Fatma Sakar came out worse in a 50-50 with Celina Baum. She struggled off but was back on the pitch to see Sarah Abu Sabbah drag a first speculative, loosener of a shot well wide. Marie Becker would go down, too, only five minutes later, this time after a clash of heads with Shpresa Aradini.

But if it was tough down on the pitch, it was a fine evening for football. The sun was out, casting long shadows on the rutted pitch, and the crowd were in good voice, ringing out across this gem of a stadium, three quarters browning terrace, the rest wooden benches in a modern stand. The atmosphere more than matched the furious start, if one that saw the hosts start the strongest.

Abu Sabbah’s speculative effort was an aberration, and it was Gütersloh’s Maren Tellenbröker who had the first real effort, played in by Marie Schröder, having snaffled the ball in midfield, seizing on a rare stray pass from Moraitou. But Cara Bösl, one of four Union players making their competitive debuts, saved her shot with ease to her left.

Dina Orschmann was everywhere, meanwhile; mopping up at left-back before hitting a rangy ball the width of the pitch into the space ahead of Sakar one minute; almost winning a corner off the right the next.

Union’s chances were few and far between. Sakar dribbled into the box, under pressure, she switched the ball onto her left then right, and squeezed off a shot whose deflection took all the sting out of it. But Gütersloh were winning the midfield, and tested Bösl with two deep set-pieces, a corner and a free kick, as well as drawing a save at waist height after quarter of an hour. She did superbly to stop Schröder, sticking out a hand, when the Gütersloh striker found herself suddenly through on goal.

Union were having to get used to the physicality, as well as the lack of space given to them, of their 2. Liga opponents. They were a long way from the Regionalliga now. Orschmann had two markers on her within a heartbeat when receiving the ball with her back to goal, and Halverkamps found herself dropping deeper, helping out, while Moraitou had to cut back on herself having brought the ball from her own half 25 yards.

It was hot, too, and the players all jogged to the side while Dina Orschmann was down, having been caught by Sarah Rolle when punching a long Niesler ball away, but catching Union’s skipper for the day in the forehead.

Union’s best move would follow, after 35 minutes, after Becker and Niesler and Bösl took a little of the pressure off, knocking the ball between themselves. Sakar suddenly skipped past Celina Baum with a flick, going past her the other way up the line. She played a one-two with Abu Sabbah who found Halverkamps. In the end her final ball was too deep for Metzker to reach as she hit the opposite byline, but it was a fine break, fast, and sharp.

 Halverkamps hit a better cross shortly after, that Metzker, this time, was an inch away from as she charged in, and then drew the first real stop from Rolle, just before half time, stabbing the ball across the keeper.

But if the many travelling Union fans in the stands thought they had weathered the worst of the storm, Union were to be caught out a minute before the whistle was blown, as Schröder was sprung down the left hand side. She already had half a yard on Niesler, and there was no catching her as she sped up the line and cut in towards goal, shooting with her right past Bösl, bending the ball inside the back post.

It was an excellent finish, if a bitter one for the Union players.

Moraitou and Markou give Union the lead, Gutersloh draw level

Union looked to step up as soon as the second half started, Poese having made no changes at the break. Niesler hitting a long ball as far as Orschmann from the off. Abu Sabbah spun one way, then sent found Orschmann with a back-heel, her pass just evading Metzker as she came in from the left.

But Schröder’s pace was a menace, as the hosts looked to catch Union on the break. Becker did well to get back to shepherd her away from danger down the right after three minutes, while Sakar matched her in a sprint down the left after four.

FSV were also not afraid of dishing it out, Abu Sabbah and Moraitou were both brought down, before Celine Baum fouled Halverkamps on the edge of the box, just inside the D. Moraitou stood over the ball, the wait taking forever.

The Greek international was the coolest women on the pitch - her socks rolled down, no shinpads - and she clipped the free kick with enough pace and bend to beat Rolle, the ball nestling inside the right-hand post. 1-1. It was a gorgeous strike, one she has made a habit of in her year at Union.

Moraitou now had the wind in her sails. She broke once onto a squared ball from Abu Sabbah, before being clattered by Nele Schmidt as she burst down the middle after an hour.

It was soon after that Poese made her first change, bringing on Lisa Heiseler for Abu Sabbah, bolstering the midfield, exchanging barges with Ronja Leubner at a free kick almost immediately. Though she hadn’t yet taken the armband off Orschmann, she was immediately leading by presence alone. She would be joined by Katja Orschmann and Anna Weiß as they replaced Janež and Sakar with 15 minutes to go.

It was the two skippers who next combined to give Union their next big chance, when Heiseler knocked the ball down for Dina Orschmann, who somehow managed to fire off a shot under pressure that cannoned back off the near post.

But the players were now feeling the game in their legs. First Halverkamps went down with cramp at one end, then Leubner at the other. The excellent Schröder shot over with ten minutes to play having done the hard work of robbing Moraitou.

Poese made her final changes, then, bringing on Naika Reissner and Eleni Markou, knowing little how much it would matter. Nor how quickly.

After the game Katja Orschmann would say “‘We didn't start the game well, but we got better and better in the course of the second half,” but she was saving the best line til last.

“We could have made better use of our scoring chances, but we could rely on our Greeks.”

And how.

Within the batting of an eye, once again Moraitou was stood over a free kick, this time 35 yards out, to the left.

She bent it into the box, where her international team-mate, Markou, rose to power a header home past Rolle. It was her first ever competitive touch in an Union shirt. And what a touch it was. She roaraed away, her finger to her lips before she was buried in her team-mates, and half the bench emptied.

That wasn’t it for the drama. Melanie Schuster hit a wonderful, deep free kick that somehow dipped enough at the end and crashed off the top of the bar. The ball though had enough on it to come out into the box where Lilly Stojan pounced on it to head past a helpless Bösl.

It was 2-2, there were just six added minutes to play, and even they felt like a lifetime, first as Schröder was the next to cramp up, then as Bösl held a looping high ball that could have done anything in the air on its way to her. It took a fantastically timed tackle from Weiß to stop Lucy Wisniewski as she threatened down the left, time standing still now and the crowd on tenterhooks.

Extra time sees the tension mount on the tiring players. But Bösl's heroics seal the win

The lights were now shining brightly as the skies darkened, and the Union players took another huddle. They broke out early, taking their places while the home side took their time in theirs. As the re-start came, with the teams still facing the same way as in the second half, Poese remained stood, one hand on her chin, impassive as Moraitou hit another free kick the way of Markou, but this time her header was too close to Rolle.

Union were now playing a back four, Katja Orschmann next to the titanic Becker. The two sides were now like two old heavyweights, slugging it out in the final rounds, too exhausted to dance, too pumped up to lie down.

Becker, having never stopped running, gritted her teeth, harrying the dangerous substitute, Gizem Kilic, all the way to the touchline, before making another well timed challenge on her, more centrally, straight after. She was then on the other side with six minutes played, the Unioner’s hearts in their mouths, as Bösl seemed for a second to mis-control her back pass. The ball rolled towards the line, but it had no pace on it. The terror was quickly averted.

Bösl had to come out quickly to punch Schuster’s free kick from deep away; at the other end Rolle stopped Weiß’s shot, holding on before Reissner could nip in to take it away. She then had to take two attempts at holding Moraitou’s bending corner from the right. Katja Orschmann did brilliantly to rob Linda Preuß inside the box as the first period came to an end.

The second half started in a blur, Dina Orschmann turning inside the Gütersloh box; Becker making another huge challenge inside Union’s; Heiseler hit an implausible lob that hung in the air, but dropped wide; Wisniewski put a shot straight at Bösl when she had more time on the ball than she knew what to do with. She then hit a ball across the box that somehow evaded everyone. Dina Orschmann looked to chip Rolle, but overhit it. Becker made a final, desperate challenge on Aradini, before heading away another long ball into the box.

They were all at the very limits of their endurance by now.

It was going to penalties and it was Bösl who would make the difference in, as she said after the drama had played itself out, her first ever shoot-out. As Lilly Stojan stepped up for the first spot-kick, Union’s keeper spread her arms, she bounced on her toes and waited as the Gütersloh player hit it down the middle. She beat the ball away, banishing it to the darkness.

Heiseler, Dina Orschmann and Markou made no mistake, they were coolness personified. Schuster and Preuß both scored for the hosts, too.

But Bösl’s stop from Chiara Tappe was better still, sticking out a leg, her athleticism never failing her, even after the tensions and stresses of the longest of evenings.

And all it took was Katja Orschmann to roll hers to Rolle’s right, sending the stricken keeper the wrong way to seal the tie.

Union had done it in the bravest of fashions. Welcome to 2024/25. They’ll be talking about this one for a long while yet.