HC Erlangen celebrates third win in a row

HC Erlangen ran out winners by 31:25 on Sunday afternoon in a game postponed from the 13th matchday of the season. The victory was never in danger thanks to stable defending and effervescent play in attack.

The opening spell belonged to HC Erlangen. After both sides failed to score on their first two attacks, Christopher Bissel managed to win a seven-meter penalty with a powerful one-on-one action and Steinert buried it in the net to put his team 1:0 ahead. Nikolas Katsigiannis proved a reliable mainstay between the posts and did not concede a goal until the seventh minute, when David Schmidt tied the scores at 1:1 when the HC was shorthanded. However, Jan Schäffer put his side back in front right away after a pass by Büdel. Despite a number of slips in concentration in attack by Erlangen, Katsigiannis kept his team in the game and, thanks to his immensely important saves, ensured that HC Erlangen went 4:1 ahead in the 12th minute. The HC was repeatedly shorthanded in the opening spell, but still managed to win possession and extend its lead with one player less on court. Bissel, who produced a strong display, made it 9:5 with ten minutes remaining in the first half. The central block in the defense marshaled by Petter Overby was highly focused and kept on disrupting the visitors’ flow. The HCE went in at half-time leading by 15:10.

The visitors added the first goal after the break and reduced the deficit to 15:12 after two attacks. All too often, Erlangen only managed to hit the opposing side’s post in the opening spell, with the result that the TVB got back to within striking distance (15:13). After going three minutes without scoring, however, the HC got back into its stride and stretched the gap to 17:13 through goals from Link and Overby. From the 40th minute on, the club from Swabia fought valiantly to avert the impending defeat and made it 20:17 in the 43rd minute. Yet Erlangen continued to battle away, did not let itself become disconcerted and extended the lead to 22:17 after an effervescent attack. After a mistake by the TVB, Büdel helped his side pull further ahead and chalk up its first six-goal lead of the encounter (23:17). In crunch time, it was keeper Gorazd Skof who proved to be a reliable mainstay for his side and produced spectacular saves to the cheers of the 3,651 spectators. Dominik Mappes then scored twice and, at the latest when the strong Johannes Sellin made it 28:20, none of the home fans had any more doubts that their team would run out winners. In the end, HC Erlangen rewarded itself for a strong performance by winning 31:25.

Source: www.hc-erlangen.de