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.