Thüringer HC wins first leg of quarter-final

The Bundesliga handball club Thüringer HC has taken a big step towards the Final Four in the European League. The team of Head Coach Herbert Müller defeated the Romanian club SCM Ramnicu Valcea 35:29 (17:15) in the quarter-final first leg in front of a home crowd and put itself in a good starting position for the second leg on March 30. Johanna Reichert stood out for THC with 15 goals. The final tournament will take place on May 3-4 in Graz.

The Thuringians, who had recently lost twice in a row in the Bundesliga, got off to a furious start. With their aggressive and agile defense, they forced several turnovers, which they consistently converted into fast breaks. The THC led 8:2 after eleven minutes and it was not until just under 14 minutes had elapsed that the visitors scored their first goal from a positional attack. The home side had everything under control up to 14:7 (20th minute), before the error rate in attack suddenly increased dramatically. The Romanians punished the THC's weak spell mercilessly and reduced the deficit to two goals by the break.

The tempo remained high after the break. The Thuringians were able to rely on the outstanding Reichert in attack, who had already added 13 goals to her tally when the score was 22:19 in the 36th minute. When the defense also improved again midway through the second half, the THC produced a 6:1 run to pull 29:22 ahead in the 47th minute. The visitors reduced the deficit to four goals, but the Thuringians made the better decisions in the fiercely contested final phase.