The Frauen-Bundesliga returned with a bang this weekend as Munich closed the gap on Wolfsburg and pulled away from Turbine, Essen, Hoffenheim and Frankfurt who shared the points in respective draws. Elsewhere, Sand put four past ‘Gladbach as Werder and Freiburg recorded hearty win over Duisburg and Leverkusen.
TSG Hoffenheim 0-1 FFC Frankfurt
In the first of two rescheduled fixtures of last weekend, Hoffenheim fell at home to FFC who went ahead early on through Géraldine Reuteler. Despite having their fair share of chances and a markedly better second half, there was little the hosts could do to find a way through Frankfurt’s determined defence.
SC Sand 2-3 Turbine Potsdam
Jasmin Sehan’s fine second minute goal got the hosts up and running in Willstätt before Potsdam hit back 25 minutes later through Felicitas Rauch’s low effort before Lara Prašnikar gave the Turbines the lead with a drive from range. Milena Nikolić restored parity less than ten minutes later at a poorly defended corner before the visitors found a late winner courtesy of Sarah Zadrazil.
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-4 SC Sand
The league season fully got back underway when Borussia welcomed Sand to the Grenzlandstadion in the early kick-off on Sunday, the team currently propping up the table in for another afternoon to forget. Jana Vojteková’s first time strike enough go give Sand the lead before Nina Burger added a second four minutes later, converting from close range before Nikolić made it three just before the break with a neat header.
The match not all doom and gloom for the hosts as they pulled one back five minutes into the second half, Valentina Oppedisano’s blind ball from the half way line enough to catch Carina Schlüter sleeping. The young goalkeeper not able to get anything on the ball as it bounced beyond her and into the open net. The goal a mere conciliation, that looked to shave a whisker off of The Foals’ goal difference, cancelled out in stoppage time by Anne van Bonn’s volley.
FFC Frankfurt 3-3 Turbine Potsdam
Not quite Der Klassiker it once was, Frankfurt and Potsdam showed there’s still plenty of drama to be hand when the two most successful teams in FBL history clashed yesterday. Ahead for just two minutes, the visitors who’d taken an early lead through Rahel Kiwic were fasted pegged back as Marith Prießen pulled the hosts level. Rauch scored her second goal in as many weeks when she converted from 12-yards before Viktoria Schwalm gave the visitors a cushion. Like Rauch before her, Reuteler soon had her second of the month as her effort evaded Lisa Schmitz to bring FFC back to within one. On the pitch for just two minutes, 17-year-old Shekiera Martinez made her impact felt as she bagged the sixth and final goal of the game ensuring the two sides shared the spoils.
SGS Essen 2-2 TSG Hoffenheim
Nicole Billa’s twelfth minute penalty had TSG on their way against a struggling Essen side, the visitors able to further their lead early in the second half through Maximiliane Rall as she mopped up Billa’s scraps. The Esseners able to pull themselves back into the match just after the hour when Marina Hegering nodded a corner beyond Janina Leitzig, the match levelled by Ramona Petzelberger ten minutes later as she arrived to turn Nicole Anyomi’s square pass home.
Werder Bremen 5-0 MSV Duisburg
Taking advantage off an off-colour MSV, Werder gave their survival chances a much-needed boost with a memorable win over the Zebras. The deadlock broken on the half-hour when Katharina Schiechtl got in front of Meikayla Moore to nick Luisa Wensing’s knock-down in before Julia Kofler made it two in stoppage time, pouncing on Lisa-Marie Scholz’s parried effort. Two became three early in the second half as Sofia Nati put the ball away before Scholz chested the ball home at an uncleared corner. With a glut of scrappy goals under their belt, Bremen finally found a moment of real quality to rubberstamp the match, Nati’s whip from 20-yards the most memorable of the rout.
SC Freiburg 6-0 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Having a checkered season, Freiburg made sure to kick the year off with a bang against strugglers, Leverkusen. Taking the lead through Sharon Beck before the quarter hour, the hosts showed little remorse as they continued to attack, Sandra Starke the next on the scoresheet as she touched the ball home at the second time of asking. Two minutes later the hosts had a third when Desiree van Lunteren finished up a classy one-two with Beck to give the Freiburgers a three-goal lead at the break.
The second half brought more of the same with Beck claiming the fourth of the day, turning the ball home after Anna Klink had let go of Janina Minge’s effort from range. Four became five when Carolin Schiewe sent a bullet header rippling through the net before Giulia Gwinn rounded out the scoring, dancing around the box before slotting the ball between Klink’s ankles.
Bayern München 4-2 VfL Wolfsburg
A class apart, the hosts claimed a huge three points over the current champions on Sunday afternoon. A goal to the good 20 minutes in when Carina Wenninger met Sara Däbritz’s inswung corner, the Bavarians kept their foot on the gas throughout the first half and soon had a second when Gina Lewandowski got forward and slotted Jovana Damnjanović’s cutback into the bottom right corner. Two became three just after the hour when Babett Peter’s clearance bounced off of Nilla Fischer’s ankles and behind Mary Earps.
In one of their worst performances in recent memory, the visitors did manage to get a toe back into the match when Fischer rose at a corner and nodded the ball across goal and in. When Ewa Pajor’s clipped the ball in at the back post six minutes later, it looked like Wolfsburg might have managed to claw back a point and keep Bayern at arm’s length in the title race. Finishing with the bit between their teeth, the visitors came agonisingly close to an equaliser not once, but twice as the game ticked down, their efforts to grab an equaliser leaving them wide open at the back. Fridolina Rolfö the one to make certain that all three points stayed in Munich when she raced up the pitch to give Sydney Lohmann an option, the young attacker squaring the ball for her teammate to blast home.
