To round off their training camp in the Kitzbühel Alps, Borussia Dortmund's women drew 2-2 (1-1) with TSV 1860 Munich. Ann-Katrin Lau and Allegra Gerres scored the goals in the final rehearsal before the start of the regular season next Sunday.

"I'm just mega happy that we managed to get the draw," said a beaming Allegra Gerres immediately after the final whistle. A few seconds earlier, she scored the last-minute equaliser for her team. The three minutes of stoppage time were drawing to a close when Annika Fälker stepped up to deliver a free-kick from out on the right. Ana Louisa Zabell leaped up at the far-post to head the ball across the face of goal, before Gerres guided the ball into the back of the net with a delicate inside-of-the-foot volley. "Getting the equaliser will do our morale a lot of good," said coach Thomas Sulewski, with captain Luisa Bergmann adding: "I'm very proud of the girls for digging in and getting their rewards with a well-deserved draw."

In hot temperatures of over 30 degrees in Westendorf's Waldstadion, the BVB women experienced a cold shower in the 7th minute of the game: Marina Jung slipped as she attempted a clearance and ended up putting the ball past goalkeeper Sandra Schröer for an own-goal. The Black & Yellows needed about fifteen minutes to recover from the early shock, but once they found their feet, the first successful attacking move led to the equaliser: Lea Rogge-Herper sent a perfectly-weighted pass into the path of the onrushing Ann-Katrin Lau, who had no trouble slotting the ball past the opposing keeper into the net (21). Shortly before the break, Rogge-Herper had a great opportunity to grab the lead after rounding the TSV goalkeeper, but unfortunately the angle was too tight and she could only find the side-netting. "We were the better team in the first half, so it's a shame we weren't rewarded with a second goal," said head coach Sulewski.

The team got the second half underway with ten fresh pairs of legs - only Luisa Bergmann remained from the line-up that started the match. The new set of players had barely got going before they found themselves a goal down: Michelle Brey was played in one-on-one with Stefanie Scheibe and slotted the ball past the BVB goalkeeper to make it 2-1 (49). Again, it took a while before the Dortmund women were able to get their heads back up after going behind. Chances were hard to come by. A long-range effort from Mia Macarena Bedarf was the closest they came to threatening the Munich goal (73). "We lacked drive going forward. We didn't get balls into the half spaces and we didn't assert ourselves on the flanks," said Sulewski in his post-match analysis. Thus, everything pointed to a victory for TSV, who just over a year ago were defeated 3-1 in the BVB women's team's first ever match. However, Allegra Gerres's last-minute goal meant their efforts to get revenge were in vain.

The Black & Yellows will kick the season off next Sunday, 21 August with a game against Landesliga side TuS Wadersloh in the first round of the Westfalenpokal. Kickoff at the BVB Football Academy is scheduled for 15:00 CET.

BVB: Schröer – Hentrich (46, Gerres), Jung (46, Becker), Rechenbach (46, Glänzer), Pörteners (46, Fälker) – Bergmann – Lau (46, Auffenberg), Grothe (46, Zabell), Rogge-Herper (46, Billig), Kuhl (46, Herbig) – Kaul (46, Bedarf)

Goals: 0-1 Jung (7/own-goal), 1-1 Lau (21), 1-2 Brey (49), Gerres (90+3)

Danny Fritz