“Youth Training for the Olympics”: Steinmühlen Soccer Team Wins District Championship Again

Great joy for Michael Neirich’s team: Our Competition Class II soccer players have once again won the district championship this year on the artificial turf field in Kirchhain. This year’s two opponents were the Georg-Büchner-Schule in Stadtallendorf and the Freiherr-von-Stein-Schule in Gladenbach. The fact that these two teams faced off—resulting in a scoreless draw—already put us in a very strong position. Highly focused, our students in grades 8 through 10 took the field for their first match against Stadtallendorf in Game 2. A convincing performance, highlighted by a hat trick from Jakob Reinhard, ultimately resulted in a well-deserved 3–0 victory. This meant that a draw against Gladenbach in the tournament’s final match would be enough. In this match, the Steinmühlen players didn’t show their best soccer; both teams played nervously, and so it wasn’t until three minutes before the end that Adrian Bruchmann tapped in a cross from Jakob Reinhard to make it 1–0. A lapse in our defense then led to the 1–1 equalizer in the final minute. Shortly afterward, however, the prudent referee Sam Kempkes blew the whistle to end the game.

This means that Steinmühle has once again qualified for the regional tournament on April 18 at Georg-Gassmann Stadium in Marburg. Very strong opponents await us there, especially the team from Gießen. Unfortunately, we’ll likely be the underdogs that day, since the entire 9th-grade team (eight players from that grade were on the field today) will be on a school trip.