With the circle player Julian Renninger and the two left wingers Theo Bürgin and Josip Jokic, three other players had to switch for health reasons in addition to the well-known failures. While the team had already started the trip to the Baltic Sea on Friday, the youngsters Lorenz Schlotmann and Arne Quittmann were accompanied to Lübeck on Saturday, where they both worked. Quittmann was sent on in the first half to give Tilman Pröhl breathing space, while Schlotmann was cleared to play on the left wing in the closing stages.
Although the recently missed backcourt players Pouya Norouzi, Philipp Vorlicek and Valentin Spohn were up and running again, Stefan Neff started with the backcourt line showing up well in the 34:31 win against Zaporizhzhia. Jan-Lars Gaubatz started as an intermediary, Tim Stefan and Kim Voss-Fels filled the middle positions. All three have repaid the trust. Voss-Fels and Stefan gave the yellow-greens a 2-0 lead, after the first two goals from Gaubatz the visitors were already five goals up (9:4, 13th). One minute later, Voss-Fels won for the fourth time (10:5). Valentin Schmidt, who took over the left wing position unknown to him, also issued a goal threat.
In the Eintracht box, Maurice Paske was in excellent form behind a tight defensive line and had already made nine saves at half-time. The yellow-greens play forward with a lot of speed. Pierre Busch’s goal for 7:4 after a quick central intervention was symptomatic, the hosts did not even know what had happened to him. When after about 15 minutes Norouzi came on, scoring 12:6, Vorlicek and Spohn, things went smoothly. Only shortly before the break, the Schwartauers made their way a little and achieved the halftime result of 13:16 with a deficit of 11:16. The hosts could have done more at this stage. Time had already expired when Paske saved a shot from seven meters against Jan-Eric Speckmann, capping off his already impressive performance.
After the team change, the hosts, where Paul Skorupa saw the red card for too tough play, were able to reduce the score twice (18:20, 21:23). But whenever Lübeck’s nearly 1,400 fans hoped for a turnaround, Neff’s team had the right answer ready. Paske maintained his high level, Tobi Mahncke saved a penalty at 18:21, Norouzi got stronger and stronger in attack. When Eintracht settled the score at 24:30 with a 3-0 run after 24:27 (54th), the preliminary decision was made. Lübeck’s star player Mex Raguse finished the match with his 11th goal, but by then the celebrations had already begun on the Hagen bench. A very strong performance from the badly weakened team!
Source: VfL Eintracht Hagen / Photo: 54th
