Rostocker FC vs 1. FC Union Berlin
Womens Regionalliga Nordost, 26. Matchday
Rostocker FC vs
Womens Regionalliga Nordost, 26. Matchday
Another Win for Union's Women
Match report
The women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin crowned a superb 2022/23 season with a 4-0 away win over Rostocker SC. Captain Lisa Heiseler set the Union set the tone with an early brace. Katja Orschmann and Sophie Trojahn added to the tally. It Union’s their 12th win in a row.
Rostocker FC: Hermann - Böttcher, Heinschel, Bönsch, Henschel (46. Wiechers), de Vries (68. Friese), Lehmann, Grundmann, Schulz (46. Spieß), Pein, Weißgärber
1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner - Bach, Becker, K. Orschmann, Reissner (75. Westphal) - Frank, Görsdorf (63. Kratz), Heiseler - D. Orschmann (75. Reichenbach), Rurack (63. Spolaczyk), Trojahn (75. Bucher)
Goals: 0:1 Heiseler (3rd), 0:2 Heiseler (16th), 0:3 K. Orschmann (29.), 0:4 Trojahn (74.)
Attendance: 100
Heiseler puts Union in front with an early double
The travelling Unioner saw head coach, Ailien Poese, having only made a single change from last weeks 6-1 win over Hohen Neuendorf, with Marie Becker returning to centre-back alongside Katja Orschmann, in place of Pauline Gericke.
But whereas last weeks opponents proved hard to break down at first, Union’s captain, Lisa Heiseler – who is second in the goalscoring charts, and is having a majestic season – had Union in the lead after only three minutes, rifling home from inside the box after the ball had been robbed in midfield.
Uncharacteristically for her this season, she missed an almost easier chance just after ten minutes as Dina Orschmann crossed from the left, Heiseler got a toe on the ball inside the box, but could only put her effort wide. She would not let it happen again. It came from another searching Dina Orschmann cross from the right, which was headed clear, but only as far as Heiseler, who volleyed home resoundingly.
Union were completely dominant, moving the ball around with certainty until Dina’s twin, Katja Orschmann headed in Celine Frank’s corner to make it 3-0 for Union.
Trojahn scores the last goal of the season
In beautiful weather, Union took things a little easier in the second half, slowing the pace and letting the ball do most of the running, but they remained in control of things, despite the final throes from an already relegated Rostock side, determined not to slink out of the league disappointingly. Union continued to create chances. Heiseler's shot from Latoya Bach's cross in the 58th minute flew just wide and Dina Orschmann's lob two minutes later, too, dropped just wide. Katja Orschmann also hit the underside of the crossbar from a free kick in the 72nd minute.
Indeed, it wasn’t until the 74th minute that Union found the net again. Following an Elisa Spolaczyk header, Sophie Trojahn had plenty of space on the left wing and finished. It made it 4-0 and was to be the last Union goal of a superb season.
It means that Union end the 2022/23 season in 2nd place in the table with 65 points, 36 of those coming after the winter break. The league winners Viktoria Berlin, who ended up with 69 points, will play in a playoff against Hamburger SV in mid-June, to will decide who will play in the 2. Bundesliga next season.
Türkiyemspor finished in 3rd with 61 points. Meanwhile, Rostocker SC, SV Eintracht Leipzig-Süd, Blau-Weiss Hohen Neuendorf and FSV Babelsberg 74 are all relegated from the Regionalliga Nordost, while the outcome of the match between Viktoria and HSV will determine whether SFC Stern 1900 remain in the league. Should Viktoria be promoted, Stern 1900 will remain in the Regionalliga next season. The two teams promoted from the Verbandsliga are currently unknown.
The coach’s views on the game
"First of all, I would like to thank the fans, who again gave us great support here in Rostock,” said a delighted head coach, Ailien Poese after the final whistle. “Overall, we are very satisfied, and have implemented certain things we discussed very well. Of course, I also don't want to miss the opportunity to congratulate our men on their great success yesterday!”
“With this, we say goodbye for our summer break and are already looking forward to starting the preparation for the upcoming season again after the holidays."
The view forwards
The team will stay in Warnemünde until Monday to let the season come to an end together. On Tuesday, the last training session of the season will take place before the team takes a well-deserved summer break. The start of training for the coming season will then take place on 10 July 2023.
Wrapping Things up in Rostock
Match preview
This Sunday finds 1. FC Union Berlin's women's team's final match of the 2022/23 Regionalliga Nordost season, as they travel to play Rostocker FC. With a win, Union will secure 2nd place in the league. Kick-off is at 14:00 at the RFC Stadium, Damerower Weg.
The opponents
After four years, Sunday's match will be Rostock's last appearance in the Regionalliga for the time being. They are bottom of the table with only four points and have been relegated for weeks. It has been a miserable year for Robert Fölsch's side (he has been head coach since 2017), as the only club to have already conceded more than 100 goals.
What makes things possibly worse is that fifty of those have come in only five games, September's 14-0 home defeat to Viktoria Berlin being particularly galling, as well as four other 9-0 losses.
Still, there have been small mercies. At least they managed a win in the second half of the season, having reached Christmas with only a single point. On matchday 21, Rostock finally beat second-bottom SV Eintracht Leipzig-Süd 1-0, with an 89th minute winner. Then, a fortnight ago, Rostock managed to defend their title in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state cup, with a 2-1 win over HSG Warnemünde, meaning they will at least participate in the DFB Pokal again next year.
The head to head
So far, the two teams have met four times, all of which were won by Union.
Union won 3-0 at Dörpfeldstraße earlier this season, with Hannah Kratz giving the hosts an early lead before Zita Rurack and Lisa Heiseler put the game to bed. Their joy was however overshadowed by the horrific injury to Luca Scheel, who tore her cruciate ligament.
The coach's views ahead of the match
"We are facing the last team in the table, but nevertheless Rostock showed in the last fixture that they are a strong fighting team, and accordingly we have been warned," explained Union's head coach Ailien Poese during the week.
