Next weekend (March 13th and 14th) the championship title of the Women's Bundesliga (DFEL) will be played in a Final Four tournament in Füssen. After all the main round games were played without any major complications, the season is about to reach its climax with the fight for the championship.
In preparation for the tournament, deb-online.de takes a look at the participants. How did the season go for the team? Who are the key players? And what does U18 women's national coach Franziska Busch think of the respective teams?
ESC Planegg: The eighth title should be won with unity
A favorite with a lot of quality: ESC Planegg has clear ambitions at the Final Four tournament in Füssen: they want to win their eighth championship title - and there is no question that the team from the Munich area is fundamentally capable of doing so. “The team has changed little compared to last year and has actually become a little stronger,” attested DEB-Interim sports director Christian Künast at the start of the season. Even though everything didn't always go smoothly in the main round and the team also had to cope with injuries to important players, the seven-time champions went into the deciding tournament in second place in the table and still had a chance for the top place until the final weekend of the main round.
Planegg, which plays its home games in Grafing, first has to face the first knockout game on Saturday ECDC Memmingen Indians prevail, the opponent in last season's play-off final, which had to be stopped due to the outbreak of the corona pandemic. “The entire team is really looking forward to the tournament. However, for the slightly older women among us, the tournament format is nothing new. In the past, the DFEL championship title was always decided in a Final Four tournament,” says Julia Zorn, who has been able to hunt for goals again since the final phase of the main round after a long injury break. The national player is already playing her 14th season for the ESC and is the record holder in the women's Bundesliga with 241 goals.
In addition to her, striker Kerstin Spielberger and defender Monika Pink, who are playing their 13th and 15th seasons for Planegg respectively, are seasoned leaders of the team. At 40 years old, Kathrin Lehmann is also the most experienced player in the league. The Swiss woman's greatest successes include a championship in the Swedish women's league SDHL and winning the bronze medal at the 2011 World Cup in her own country. At the international matches against Germany last month, Lehmann worked on the Swiss women's coaching team.
The absences of Sarah Kubiczek and Katharina Gerstmeir in the attack are intended to be compensated for by players such as the American Justin Reyes (25 goals, 15 assists), Janina Fuchs (14 goals, 14 assists) and also Spielberger (20 goals, 16 assists). They are all partly responsible for a success rate of 26,7 percent in their own right - the top value in the league. National defenders Tabea Botthof, Anna-Maria Fiegert and Yvonne Rothemund, among others, provide strong defensive support for their team.
With Franziska Albl, who has been there since the men'sBayernleague is back with the team, and Lisa Hemmerle, coach Marcel Breil's team has a very strong goalie duo. Hemmerle records an average of 1,52 goals conceded per game, while national goalkeeper Albl only concedes 0,93 goals per game. Whoever will be between the posts at the weekend will not be easy to overcome. Julia Zorn sees the special quality of her team in its unity: “I think we don’t have a star player or a star line. For us, the focus is on team spirit and cohesion, that’s what makes us so good.”
U18 women’s national coach Franziska Busch: “Similar to Memmingen, Planegg also achieved victories against fellow favorites. However, there were also phases in which they lost to lower-placed teams. Leading players were injured at times, but they are now back. So you were able to play and prepare as a complete team for the final tournament.”
All games are live, free of charge and in full length in the live stream www.thefan.fm/live to be followed. On http://www.gamepitch.de A page with all the information and statistics was set up specifically for the tournament.
The games are scheduled as follows:
Saturday, March 13, 2021:
15:00 p.m. / ERC Ingolstadt - Eisbären Juniors Berlin
19:00 p.m. / ESC Planegg – ECDC Memmingen
Sunday March 14, 2021:
11:00 a.m. / Game for 3rd place
15:00 p.m. / Final