Waspo Hannover won its ninth trophy in the German Cup by defeating ASC Duisburg 12:5 in the gold-medal match of the Final Four tournament in Berlin.
The tournament’s highlight wasn’t the final, but the German water polo classic in the semifinals – Waspo 98 Hannover and Spandau 04, the winner of the 2024 edition, faced off. There were a lot of twists and turns throughout the first three periods. In the dying seconds of the first half, Spandau 04 led 6:5. Then, Waspo went on a 3:0 run. The Hannover-based team leveled at 6:6 two seconds before the middle break and added two early goals in the third quarter for 8:6.
By the 23rd minute, Waspo was leading 9:7. Spandau, however, responded with three consecutive goals, managing to tie the game at 9:9 after scoring twice in the last 47 seconds of the third quarter. The hosts took the lead with the first possession of the fourth period, making it 10:9. But Spandau was unable to score in the final seven minutes, while Waspo produced a 4:0 series. Denis Strelezkij contributed four goals to Waspo’s 13:10 victory, while Antonio Buha scored three. Marek Tkac netted three goals for Spandau.
The other semifinal encounter, between ASC Duisburg and Duisburger SV 1898, was also exciting. ASC Duisburg advanced to the final with a narrow 12:11 win. Dusiburger took an opening 2:0 lead. Duisburger responded with five straight goals – 5:2 and was always in front after that. But, Duisburger didn’t surrender. Still, ASC controlled the game. It had a 12:9 advantage with 01:40 minutes left on the clock. Dusiburger scored the last two goals in the match, but it was too late for a turn. ASC’s Metten was the best scorer with four goals.
The medal matches lacked excitement.
Hannover entered the final strongly and established an early 5:0 lead. ASC didn’t recover from a poor start. Waspo recorded a 12:5 win with three goals from Antonio Buha and Nikola Milradovic. Gusakov scored two for ASC Duisburg.
Spandau 04 cruised to a 21:9 win in the bronze-medal game against Duisburger. Pavicic from Duisburger was the standout scorer, scoring six goals. For Spandau, Sekulic and Vukojevic each scored four goals.
2024/25 German Cup, Final Four
Semifinals
ASC Duisburg – Duisburger SV 98 12:11 (5:2, 2:3, 2:2, 3:4)
Waspo 98 Hannover – Spandau 04 13:10 (4:5, 2:1, 3:3, 4:1)
3rd-place match
Duisburger – Spandau 04 9:21 (1:2, 2:6, 3:7, 3:6)
Final
ASC Duisburg – Waspo 98 Hannover 5:12 (1:5, 3:3, 1:2, 0:2)
