by Olaf Goldbecker
Bayern Munich once again proved to be a hard opponent for the top teams in their match against Potsdam. In a mediocre and goalless first half, in which Munich was denied a penalty kick while Potsdam missed to score two sitters, Bayern took the lead right after the break and added an insurance marker for a deserved 2-0 win. Both goals were scored by Lena Lotzen. With the win Bayern took revenge for the overtime cup loss against Potsdam a few weeks ago
1.FFC Frankfurt took the chance to pass Potsdam by crashing Sindelfingen 7-0. Kozue Ando netted a hattrick, the other goals were scored by Saskia Bartusiak, Kim Kulig, Babett Peter and Sandrine Bretigny. Also Wolfsburg made use of the Potsdam score and paced away on top with a surprisingly high 6-0 win over SGS Essen. Nadine Kessler and Anna Blässe scored prior to the break, after the halftime whistle Conny Pohlers scored twice, the other goals were marked by Laura Vetterlein and Navina Omilade-Keller.
FCR Duisburg continued with a surprise win over SC Freiburg. Mandy Islacker and Gülhiye Cengiz scored short before the break. Freiburg only answered by former FCR player Hasret Kayikci with a quarter hour left on the clock. The win nearly freed Duisburg from any relegation worries since Gütersloh lost 0-1 to SC Bad Neuenahr on a goal by Sarah Gregorius.
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 at FF USV Jena on late goals by Lisa Schwab and Kathrin Hendrich. Bayer Coach Thomas Obliers still was not happy about the game: “After the game I went to my colleague and apologized for the score. You cannot win much dirtier than we did today. The performance was two leagues worse than our game against Munich last week.”
The situation before the national team break weekend looks as follows:
VfL Wolfsburg leads the league with 38 pts (15 games), four points ahead of Frankfurt (15) and seven points ahead of Potsdam (14). Bayern Munich is on course for rank 4 (27 in 15), while Freiburg is 5th with 25 (17). The second group of the standings is led by Bad Neuenahr (15) and Leverkusen (16) at 20 pts each. Essen dropped to 8 with 19 pts (16), Duisburg follows with 17 (15). Jena is the first team above the relegation line at 15 pts in 15 games, meaning an eight point safety ahead of Gütersloh (15) and ten ahead of Sindelfingen (14).