The Freshmen, Hanover's final team to play a home game, made the wait worth it with an entertaining 6-0 victory over Manchester Memorial on Wednesday at The Pasture. It took the visitors a while to find the Dresden complex, but they had plenty of time for a safe warmup before the kickoff. The tone for the match was set early - both teams would see plenty of offensive chances. Hanover had several good looks in the early going, with Jack Gardner firing a warning shot, Jack Stadheim engaging in a scramble with Memorial's athletic goalkeeper Brian Jolicoeur for a loose ball, and Jack McGrath launching his patented long, high, low percentage bomb. Memorial also found a good look early, forcing goalkeeper Ty Nolon to make a diving save. Th2ere would be much, much more where that came from .
Fifteen minutes into the match, Jack Gardner collected the ball just over the midfield line and dashed into space, beating two defenders and finding space for a net-perforating rip. Memorial struck back almost immediately. A pass from deep in their end sent an attacker in alone. It looked offsides, but it wasn't. Fortunately Nolon was off his line to make a great save. Almost immediately afterwards, a ticky-tack foul at the edge of the box on a stationary attacker with his back to the goal resulted penalty kick for Memorial. Nolon cooly stepped to his line and made a diving save to his right to thwart the well-taken kick. He stole the kicker's soul. Amazingly, he wasn't done, making yet another Varsity-level save.
Despite these Memorial moments, Hanover was winning a majority of the midfield battles and gaining an edge in possession. Alex Brackett was doing some great ball winning at sitting center mid, and Theo Jospeh had his best game of the season, connecting with the forwards with precision passes. Augie Krawitt and Liam Wordon were both playing wonderful position soccer, spreading the field wide and giving good service from the flanks. Wordon authored a good shot from the right side.
Just after Soren Stettenheim made a solo run into the attacking zone, a precursor of a second-half skill run that would bear fruit, Stadheim re-entered the game with six minutes to play in the half and gave the Marauders some breathing room, blasting past two defenders and hitting the corner for a 2-0 lead and some welcome breathing room.Berkeley Chamberlain had the final salvo before the half, hitting a left-footed volley that showed how dangerous he can be on the left flank.
The Marauders were getting some of their best defensive play of the young season fro center backs, Owen Smith, Ethan Munson and Jackson Watts. Kevin Choi did good work at both center back and left back. Hanover also received some excellent play from win backs Wyatt Sklarin, Cam Forbush and Tom Mosdal. Forbush was particularly effective at transition play from defense to offense.
Hanover roared out of the blocks in the second half, and sent a clear message with Jack Gardner's second goal off the day, set up by a wonderful assist from Jack Stadheim. Gardner got his head on the ball a short time later, and will be heard from again in this respect. He then turned playmaker, slipping a pass to Simon Taenzer for a shot that forced Jolicoeur to make a wonderful diving save. Taenzer then opened his account with a corner kick that sailed directly into the far corner, a spectacular that produced a modest celebration from the cherubic midfielder. Ian Smith was feeling his oats on a nice play in the box, running a ball down to the baseline and sending a cheeky centering pass back in front.
Hanover was getting good midfield play from Jack Blaisdell and Will Taylor, and good work up top from Gilbert Gordon. Alex Brackett continued his good work in the defensive end, getting his head on a number of balls in intimidating fashion. Jack Gardner made his last of eight shots on goal a good one, hitting the upper right corner from 15 yards out to collect his second hat trick in three games.
The Marauders continued to show a lot of attacking depth. With 19 minutes left in the match, Soren Stettenheim rolled through the Memorial defense and collected his first goal of the season. Cam Bonner had a great turn at striker, staying offsides well enough to get on the end of two good runs to the goal. One was negated by a hand ball when the non-poker faced naif couldn't disguise his guilt on an accidental hand ball. The other resulted in a great save by the hard-working Memorial goalkeeper.
At the other end, Ty Nolon wasn't finished with his master class in goalkeeping. Some nonchalant defending allowed a Memorial striker in alone on goal. Nolon made a diving stop to deny the shot, and then dive a second time to deflect the shot off the rebound past the post. Off his line all day to win 50-50 balls and direct the offense, Nolan ended the match with a diving save at the edge of the box on a breakaway. It was a complete performance.
This was a solid performance against a talented but outmatched opponent. Stronger opposition awaits, with a home game next Thursday against Concord. There is much to learn, but this team has made a significant amount of progress in their short time together. Training is Thursday at 4:00. Players should wear white or gold training tops.
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