Berliner HC Stun Champions Polo in a Shootout to Close the Bundesliga First Half
Berliner HC picked the perfect way to sign off the first half of the season. Against the German champions, at home, they refused to go away, and they took the extra point in a shootout.
The men’s game against Hamburger Polo Club finished 2-2 after 60 minutes, and Berliner won the shootout 4-3. Polo led within seconds, but Berliner kept coming. Nico Kirstein, their penalty-corner specialist, levelled it in the first quarter with his eighth goal of the season. Polo went ahead again in the third quarter through New Zealand international Kane Russell, from a penalty corner in the 35th minute. Two minutes later, Loic Berlinghof answered. 2-2, and that’s how it stayed, with Berliner defending several Polo penalty corners late on to force the shootout.
In the shootout, Leon Schmidt, Simon Herzsprung, Theo Belhustede and Christian Franz all scored for Berliner. Two points for the newly promoted side, who go into the winter break ninth on 11 points from 11 games. For a promoted team against the champions, that’s a result to build a season on.
The women’s game earlier in the day went the other way. Berliner lost 4-2 at home to Großflottbeker THGC, and that cost them third place. Victoria Käske gave them an early lead in the fourth minute, but the Hamburg side turned it around before the first quarter was out, scoring in the 10th and 12th minutes. Großflottbeker, last season’s semi-finalists, made it 3-1 in the 40th minute. Carlotta Koch pulled one back in the 43rd, but Jette Fleschütz, the national-team striker, settled it with her second goal of the day in the 46th minute. Berliner’s women finish the Hinrunde fifth.
Elsewhere in the women’s league, Rot-Weiss Köln had a mixed weekend of their own, according to the club’s own match archive. They lost 3-0 at home to Mannheimer HC on Saturday, then bounced back with a 5-0 win at TSV Mannheim on Sunday, a result the club says secured second place at the end of the Hinrunde.
The field season now stops until 20 March, when Berliner return away at DSD Düsseldorf. Before that, the indoor Bundesliga starts on Friday 27 November, with Berliner away at TuSLi. The winter won’t feel quite so long after a shootout win over the champions.
The Berliner HC details in this piece come from the club’s own match report.
Related
- https://sportscursor.com/german-bundesliga-men-saturday-results-polo-alster-koln-31-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/german-bundesliga-women-saturday-results-mannheimer-berliner-hamburg-31-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/bundesliga-men-weekend-results-koln-five-mannheim-uhc-27-october-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/week-ahead-hockey-2-8-november-2026-act-hockey-one-college/
- https://sportscursor.com/live/
