HC Erlangen loses away to the German champions after an exciting comeback

HC Erlangen lost 24:21 (14:8) to the reigning German champions and Super Cup winners on Thursday evening. On the road in the far north of Germany, Erlangen fought selflessly, staged a comeback after trailing by six goals, and even closed the gap to just one goal shortly before the end. However, the team of Head Coach Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson was ultimately not able to take away the points and so reward itself for its good performance, as the favorites from Flensburg captured a hard-fought victory.

Apart from missing Petter Overby and Martin Murawski, the HCE was unexpectedly without new signing Quentin Minel in its second away game of the season. The backcourt player was forced to withdraw shortly beforehand due to a flu-like infection. The German champs were determined to make amends in front of their own crowd after surprisingly dropping a point on the road at HSG Wetzlar. And the home side got off to the perfect start: The club from Franconia, shorthanded after just 30 seconds after Christopher Bissel fouled Magnus Röd, slipped 0:3 behind. After four minutes of play, the HC’s Head Coach Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson called a timeout to recalibrate his team’s tactics. Shortly afterwards Sime Ivic, who finished with a haul of seven goals, got his team off the mark (3:1 in the 7th minute). In attack, the HCE endeavored to find gaps in Flensburg’s defense, yet unfortunately did not manage to do so always, with the result that the newly crowned Super Cup winners pulled 8:2 ahead in the 18th minute. Nico Büdel won Erlangen’s first penalty, which Florian von Gruchalla converted to make the score 10:5 in the 25th minute. As the game went on, the visitors grew more courageous in offense and were more often able to unlock their opponent’s tight defense. Ivic and Sellin also scored, with the result that the two teams went in at half-time in the Flens Arena with the home side leading 14:8.

A different Erlangen came back and above all displayed courage and determination, as well as stepping up the pace significantly after the break. Nico Büdel and Michael Haaß cut the deficit to 10:14 and, since the HCE was also more alert in defense than in the first half, Ivic made it 11:14 after Firnhaber won possession. Nikolas Katsigiannis made one fine save after the other between Erlangen’s posts. Trailing by 15:12 and then 17:14, the visitors pulled another back when Büdel slammed the ball into the back of the net (17:15 in the 40th minute), which induced Flensburg’s Head Coach Maik Muchalla to call a timeout. He demanded “more structure and resolve in covering” from the favorites. Yet the HC continued to battle valiantly. Bissel scored from the left wing to make it 18:16 and Jondal failed to beat the in-form Nikolas Katsigiannis from the seven-meter line shortly afterwards. Even though the home side always kept its nose ahead, at no time did Erlangen give up. After winning possession in defense, Jan Schäffer cut the gap to one goal (20:21) with eight minutes remaining, by when at the latest the club from Franconia had instilled a good bit of respect for it among the opposing side. However, the HC failed to capitalize on too many chances before the end and so the German champions seized victory. Even Erlangen’s offensive man-to-man covering in the final minute was no longer able to avert the 24:21 defeat.

“We found it very difficult to get into the game today. We then showed our true face in the second half and, backed by good defending, produced bold attacks. I have to pay my team a huge compliment for the fight it displayed in the second half today,” summed up Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson afterwards.

After two away games in a row, the team of captain Michael Haaß is finally back in action in front of its home crowd on Sunday, September 15, this time against TBV Lemgo, and aims to pick up where it left off in the second half and capture its next home win.

Source: www.hc-erlangen.de