League winners Mannheimer HC found the going tough but eventually prevailed against Rot-Weiss Köln to take the upperhand after the first leg of the German women’s playoffs.
It eventually went to a shoot-out as Helena Würker gave the eighth ranked side a 1-0 lead in the 42nd minute but Mannheim fought back to level at 1-1 via Ines Wanner.
In the shootout, substitute specialist Leonie Weißenberger in the Mannheim goal didn’t let in a single goal while goals from Sonja Zimmermann, Lucina von der Heyde, and Charlotte Gerstenhöfer were enough for MHC to secure a clear 3-0 victory.
They go to Mannheim next weekend with one of the two wins required from their best of three series so a success on either Saturday or Sunday will see them through.
In the other quarter-finals, Großflottbeker THGC and Berliner HC put the favoured Club an der Alster and Düsseldorfer HC under pressure in their first legs with home wins.
For GTHGC, they were 2-1 winners with Kaja Hansen and Lena Micheel’s deflected shot putting them one game to the good.
Berlin, meanwhile, put in the performance of the round with a convincing 3-0 success against the higher-ranked Düsseldorf HC.
Reigning champions Harvestehuder THC won their derby game with UHC Hamburg 3-1 with second half goals from Isabel von Gersum (45th minute) and Merle Knobloch (53rd minute) turning the game their way before Katharina Bauer completed the victory.