Harvestehuder THC delighted their huge black and yellow wall as they saw off the challenge of Real Club de Polo to advance to the FINAL8.
It capped off a wonderful weekend at Vossberg with 17-year-olds Ben Hasbach and Paul Glander on the mark either side of a Moritz Frey goal.
Early on, Polo did force a number of big saves from Anton Brinckman in the first quarter as they came out firing with an impressive early showing.
But HTHC worked through the gears and the game hinged on a super spell just before half-time. Nqobile Ntuli’s trickery won a corner down the left flank which Hasbach nailed with a powerful drag-flick into the backboard.
Within a minute, it was 2-0. George Farrant took on a free quickly and worked into the circle where Santiago Binaghi touched it to Moritz Frey to score his third goal of the weekend.
It looked set for an even bigger lead when HTHC won a stroke but Luis Calzado reacted well to deny Michael Körper from the spot. Luis Holste then hit the post after more Ntuli magic and Glander banged the crossbar from a corner as they looked to kill off the tie in the third quarter.
It eventually came via Glander and while he did not catch his flick fully, it had enough power direction on it to make it into the bottom corner.
Polo fought right through to the final whistle, drawing another series of saves from Brinckman who kept his sheet clean and maintain the 3-0 scoreline and start the party in earnest.
In the Ranking Match, Club Egara struck twice in the last 10 minutes to earn them victory over Western Wildcats in the EHL Men’s KO16 ranking match in Hamburg.
The first half was Egara on top but they were unable to get past the man mountain Gavin Somerville who made save after save in a wonderful personal performance.
Three minutes into the second half, the game turned in a mad few seconds. Rob Harwood’s touch to Johnny Christie’s pass rebounded off the inside of the post. From the ensuing play, Egara launched a massive overhead which Xavier Aguilar deflected in first time in the circle.
Wildcats levelled with 13 minutes to go in similar style, Adam MacKenzie controlling a high ball and then reversing into the net for 1-1.
But Egara continued to win corners and went back in front via Lluis Mercadé with a deflection goal. Pere Arch completed the win in the last two minutes to confirm 13th place in the ranking list with Western taking 17th.