Mannheim soar into German indoor quarter-finals
Mannheimer HC were among the first batch of sides confirmed for the German indoor quarter-finals as they swept to their seventh and eighth wins of the season.
They won 2-0 on Saturday against Rüsselheimer HC before running up a big 7-2 win at HG Nürnburg on Sunday to continue their perfect record in the southern section.
Mannheim – who will debut in the EHL next Easter – had an early exchange of goals in Nürnburg with Aina Kresken’s goal cancelled out by Lena Groß.
Linda Bens, however, restored the MHC lead and her second made it 3-1. The hosts got one back in the 13th minute but Mannheim ran up another trio of goals before half-time to put them well clear with captain Fiona Felber (pictured) on the mark.
The second half was quieter with only Saskia Wülfing’s final minute goal adding to the ledger.
Reflecting on the game, coach Nicklas Benecke said: “It was strange, as expected, because their venue doesn’t suit our game.
“At the beginning, we scored the goals quite early. It is of course clear that we could have made our level higher here and there. But these two games were good to get us started [in 2024].
“Now we have to at least get to the level we had before Christmas, if not even better, so that we can secure first place next week in the section.”
Mannheim complete their group phase next weekend with an away date against Münchner SC where a win would assure the former of top spot.
Elsewhere, Harvestehuder THC are in the playoffs with eight wins from eight in the north section while Düsseldorfer HC and Rot-Weiss Köln have the top two spots in the west.
On the men’s side, TSV Mannheim have a playoff place confirmed from the southern section, Berliner HC and Zehlendorfer Wasps have sailed through in the east in the top two places.
The remainder of the quarter-final places will be confirmed next weekend.
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