The women's team of 1. FC Union Berlin crowned a superb 2022/23 season with a 4-0 away win over Rostocker SC. Captain Lisa Heiseler set the Union set the tone with an early brace. Katja Orschmann and Sophie Trojahn added to the tally. It Union’s their 12^th win in a row.

Rostocker FC: Hermann - Böttcher, Heinschel, Bönsch, Henschel (46. Wiechers), de Vries (68. Friese), Lehmann, Grundmann, Schulz (46. Spieß), Pein, Weißgärber

1. FC Union Berlin: Wagner - Bach, Becker, K. Orschmann, Reissner (75. Westphal) - Frank, Görsdorf (63. Kratz), Heiseler - D. Orschmann (75. Reichenbach), Rurack (63. Spolaczyk), Trojahn (75. Bucher)

Goals: 0:1 Heiseler (3rd), 0:2 Heiseler (16th), 0:3 K. Orschmann (29.), 0:4 Trojahn (74.)            

Attendance: 100

Heiseler puts Union in front with an early double

The travelling Unioner saw head coach, Ailien Poese, having only made a single change from last weeks 6-1 win over Hohen Neuendorf, with Marie Becker returning to centre-back alongside Katja Orschmann, in place of Pauline Gericke.

But whereas last weeks opponents proved hard to break down at first, Union’s captain, Lisa Heiseler – who is second in the goalscoring charts, and is having a majestic season – had Union in the lead after only three minutes, rifling home from inside the box after the ball had been robbed in midfield.

Uncharacteristically for her this season, she missed an almost easier chance just after ten minutes as Dina Orschmann crossed from the left, Heiseler got a toe on the ball inside the box, but could only put her effort wide. She would not let it happen again. It came from another searching Dina Orschmann cross from the right, which was headed clear, but only as far as Heiseler, who volleyed home resoundingly.

Union were completely dominant, moving the ball around with certainty until Dina’s twin, Katja Orschmann headed in Celine Frank’s corner to make it 3-0 for Union.

Trojahn scores the last goal of the season

In beautiful weather, Union took things a little easier in the second half, slowing the pace and letting the ball do most of the running, but they remained in control of things, despite the final throes from an already relegated Rostock side, determined not to slink out of the league disappointingly. Union continued to create chances. Heiseler's shot from Latoya Bach's cross in the 58th minute flew just wide and Dina Orschmann's lob two minutes later, too, dropped just wide. Katja Orschmann also hit the underside of the crossbar from a free kick in the 72nd minute.

Indeed, it wasn’t until the 74th minute that Union found the net again. Following an Elisa Spolaczyk header, Sophie Trojahn had plenty of space on the left wing and finished. It made it 4-0 and was to be the last Union goal of a superb season.

It means that Union end the 2022/23 season in 2nd place in the table with 65 points, 36 of those coming after the winter break. The league winners Viktoria Berlin, who ended up with 69 points, will play in a playoff against Hamburger SV in mid-June, to will decide who will play in the 2. Bundesliga next season.

Türkiyemspor finished in 3rd with 61 points. Meanwhile, Rostocker SC, SV Eintracht Leipzig-Süd, Blau-Weiss Hohen Neuendorf and FSV Babelsberg 74 are all relegated from the Regionalliga Nordost, while the outcome of the match between Viktoria and HSV will determine whether SFC Stern 1900 remain in the league. Should Viktoria be promoted, Stern 1900 will remain in the Regionalliga next season. The two teams promoted from the Verbandsliga are currently unknown.

The coach’s views on the game

"First of all, I would like to thank the fans, who again gave us great support here in Rostock,” said a delighted head coach, Ailien Poese after the final whistle. “Overall, we are very satisfied, and have implemented certain things we discussed very well. Of course, I also don't want to miss the opportunity to congratulate our men on their great success yesterday!”

“With this, we say goodbye for our summer break and are already looking forward to starting the preparation for the upcoming season again after the holidays."

The view forwards

The team will stay in Warnemünde until Monday to let the season come to an end together. On Tuesday, the last training session of the season will take place before the team takes a well-deserved summer break. The start of training for the coming season will then take place on 10 July 2023.