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.
