Dr. Schneider Cup 2020
The Dr. Schneider Cup took place for the third time on 11 January 2020 in the multi-purpose gymnasium at the Kronach school centre.
After bringing the coveted trophy back to Steinbach am Wald last year, our team naturally started this year again with the big goal of defending the title in this year's Dr. Schneider Cup.
The group phase
The team made a good start to the tournament with a smooth 2-0 victory in the first game against the team from Sparkasse Kulmbach-Kronach. In the second group game against Heinz-Glas, however, our team did not manage to convert their advantage into goals, and in the end they were defeated needlessly with a score of 0-2. Consequently, they were under a lot of pressure for the rest of the group games, as another defeat would have meant the end of the preliminary round.
In the third group game, we finally managed to win 3-0 against Lear's team and we had the impression that our team had finally found its feet in the tournament. This impression was confirmed once again by the 3-1 victory over Gerresheimer in the final group match, which meant that as group winners we were able to advance to the quarter-finals in a very strong group.
The quarter-finals
Here we were awaited by the Weber Maschinenfabrik team. Unfortunately, our team could not continue the good performances of the last group games and conceded the equalizer after a 2-1 lead shortly before the end. The winner therefore had to be determined by penalty shoot-out. Our team managed to win 4-3 and reached the semi-finals against W.O.M.
The team from Ludwigsstadt had proven to be very strong in the course of the tournament so far, and we were expecting a very interesting game.
Wiegand-Glas defeated in the semi-final
Our team got off to a very good start and was able to take a 1-0 lead after only a few minutes and seemed to have the game completely under control as it progressed, with two very good opportunities to score and extend their lead.
Due to an unforced error, however, the team conceded the equaliser four minutes before the end of the game. Just one minute later they were put on the back foot following a well placed shot from their opponents, who took the lead 1-2.
Our team then mobilised all its forces to try and even the score, which, however no longer wanted to succeed.
This put an end to lofty dreams of defending the title and the team had to be satisfied with the third place playoff against Sparkasse Kulmbach-Kronach. It was evident from how both teams were playing that the tension was gone now and after a 0-0 draw we entered into a penalty shoot-out once again, which we ultimately lost 3-4.
At the end of the long tournament day, we finished with a somewhat disappointing 4th place. Unfortunately, our team was not able to break the law of series – the previous tournament wins in 2015, 2017 and 2019 were only achieved in odd-numbered years. We are therefore putting our hopes on the number 21 for the next tournament.