Late Turnaround: FCV Loses to Bochum

32 degrees, a bright blue sky, and 1,013 spectators at Lichterfelde Stadium: The setting for our home game against VfL Bochum was perfect, even though the heat took its toll on both teams right from the start.

The first scare, however, came from the visitors: Out of nowhere, the ball came toward our goal, but Hannah Etzold made a strong save (5th minute). It remained Bochum’s only notable moment in an opening phase in which our FCV was visibly dominant.

Reuter Capitalizes on Strong Start

And that dominance quickly paid off: After a long ball, the play was laid back to Aneta Polášková, who skillfully threaded the ball through to Melina Reuter’s run. From a good position, Reuter left the Bochum goalkeeper with no chance—1–0 for FC Viktoria (9th minute)!

Viktoria kept up the pressure. After a corner kick, play briefly shifted to their own half (30th minute), but Viktoria quickly regained the upper hand. In the 37th minute, captain Nina Ehegötz, almost unmarked in front of the goal, tried to thread a pass through to Reuter, but the ball was intercepted by Bochum’s goalkeeper.

Two minutes later came a scary moment: Aneta Polášková took a leg to the stomach, and the foul earned Bochum a yellow card (39th minute). Fortunately, our number 27 was able to continue playing. Toward the end of the first half, the match became more evenly matched, but our defense managed to thwart a final chance by Bochum.

Bochum comes out of the break stronger

VfL came out stronger in the second half, but after about four minutes, the game settled back into a steady rhythm. We continued to create the better chances: In the 53rd minute, the ball found its way to Ehegötz up front, whose hard shot was once again stopped by the Bochum goalkeeper. Four minutes later, following a corner kick, the ball bounced to Sarah Klotz; her long-range shot sailed just a few centimeters over the goal (57th minute).

Coach Miren Catovic responded by bringing in fresh legs: Maya Hahn came on for Polášková (61'), followed shortly after by a double substitution with Leyila Aydin and Vanessa Fürst replacing Ehegötz and Christin Meyer (68'). In the 77th minute, Kim Urbanek and Senanur Yavuz also came on for Alisa Grincenco and Melina Reuter.

Two Late Stings

The match had been meandering toward its conclusion for quite some time—until the 87th minute: The ball was played across to the left side to Bochum’s Alina Angerer, who slotted it into the far corner to make it 1–1. And it got even more bitter: In the first minute of stoppage time, Amelie Fölsing took a shot from long range and fired it hard under the crossbar for the 1–2 final score (90+1).

A painful result for our FC Viktoria, which was the better team for long stretches but was punished twice in the closing minutes.

Action continues as early as this coming weekend: In the DFB Cup playoffs (August 16), we’ll be visiting VfR Warbeyen.

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Goals:

1-0 Reuter (9')

1-1 Angerer (87')

1-2 Fölsing (90'+1)

Startelf:

Etzold, Klotz, Ihlenburg, Reuter (77' Urbanek), Grincenco (77' Yavuz), Meyer (68' Fürst), Krist, Stöckmann, Polášková (61' Hahn), Ehegötz (68' Aydin), Casanovas