The German women’s top four from the league phase of the season will hope to make short-work of their Bundesliga quarter-finals following away wins in the first of their best of three fixtures.
Reigning champions Mannheimer HC won 3-1 at Berliner HC who must now win twice this weekend in Mannheim to turn things around; a win for MHC on Saturday, though, will send them through to the final four.
MHC coach Nicklas Benecke does have a number of issues in terms of personnel with Florencia Habif (pregnant), Charlotte Hendrix (broken foot) and Carolin Seidel (broken hand) all out while Anissa Korth is an injury doubt.
Club an der Alster beat UHC Hamburg 3-1 to carry the big advantage into their second leg fixture. Rot-Weiss Köln emerged as a 2-0 winner at the Großflottbeker THGC and have the box seat against their opponent from Hamburg.
Düsseldorfer HC achieved the narrowest victory of the first quarter-final round. At Harvestehuder THC, DHC won 2-1 in a shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.
On their own pitch, the champions of 2021 and 2022 will want to forget last year’s quarter-final exit against UHC Hamburg.
On the men’s side, only Mannheim won on the road with a 4-1 away success over HTHC.
Otherwise, the other three sides with home advantage this weekend all have a deficit to make up. UHC Hamburg lost their first game 4-1 to city rivals Hamburger Polo Club.
Uhlenhorst Mülheim must overcome the 4-2 away defeat to Club an der Alster in the first leg while Rot-Weiss Köln must win both of their games against Crefelder HTC who the first leg 1-0.
Rot-Weiss will hope that some of Mats Grambusch, Elian Mazkour and Fabio Seitz will be back in the fold after injury.
The second legs will be played on Saturday with any required third legs taking place on Sunday. The final four weekend will follow on May 18 and 19.
