Hanover beat Manchester Central 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout to win the NHIAA Division One Semifinals 3-2 and advance to Saturday's Championship against unbeaten Bedford. The match will be at Manchester Memorial High School at 6:30 on Saturday.
Hanover had never beaten Central in postseason play, and had not been to a final since 2013. Central beat Hanover 4-0 in last year's semifinal.
The Marauders opened up a 2-0 lead in the first half on wonderful goals from Charlie Adams and Henry Aspinwall. Adams struck for his 23rd goal of the season less than three minutes into the game, heading home a deep, first time cross from Blake Palmer in his best moment as a Marauder winger. Central struck back hard, but the Marauders defense had its best half of the season, clogging the middle and blocking or deflecting a number of shooting attempts.
Hanover's bench played a big role after the midpoint of the half. David Stoffel gave the Marauders a lift with his midfield play, and rolled into the box for a dangerous left-footed take. Brendan Brigham came in a right back and made a number of big plays, winning a one on one battle with the dangerous Samuel Assantha.
Twenty-seven minutes into the half, Hanover was awarded a free kick inside on Central's half. Adams sent A perfectly-weighted ball into the box and Henry Aspinwall caught up to it at the end of a right-to-left run into the box. He turned and volleyed the ball back across his body and caught the upper right corner. It could actually be Hanover's goal of the season. Oh wait. The Marauders have another game. But it was good.
With a 2-0 lead, the Marauders owned the last 10 minutes, stifling the Little Green. Latham Allison, Kyle Doucette and Judd Alexander played superb individual defense, and the half ended on a high note.
Central came out steaming in the second half, and dominated. possession. An open header clanged off the crossbar, and the Little Green tacked in waves. Five minutes into the half, a rash high kick which was cautioned and could have warranted ejection injured Hanover's talismanic Amane Matsuoka, who had scored the previous two playoff game winners. Central continued to press, and nearly scored again in a scramble. Eli Stack had a chance to counter on a breakaway, but his shot rolled wide of the left post. Noah Pikielny had Hanover's best bid, rocket8ing a shot from the left side that was saved over th bar by Central keeper Alex Walker.
With 10 minutes to play Central broke through on a goal by all-world midfielder Sam Latona. There was blood in the water. Less than 4:00 minutes later Central tied it on a goal by the highly-recruited Samual Assantha, who broke past Hanover's center defense and tied the game with less than seven minutes to play. Marauder goalkeeper Joey Perras was injured on the play, and replaced by Senior Andrew Enelow. Somehow, with Enelow excelling, Hanover held on until the end of regulation, when conventional wisdom suggests that the game was gone.
Hanover rallied in overtime. Both teams were exhausted, but Hanover was deeper. Ringer, Stoffel, Correa, and Blinkhorn helped hold the midfield. The 20 minutes of golden goal overtime were mostly quiet. Enelow's kicking game helped Hanover stabilize things, and right near the end of overtime Adams almost made something happen, getting to the right baseline and shooting a ball across the face of the goal that just missed Aspinwall. Kyle Doucette closed overtime with a nice block on Assantha.
One the game got to penalties, Hanover had the advantage. Both the teams had advanced on sudden death penalties (Central last Saturday over Timberlane), but the Marauders were so deep that even losing Perras and three regular shooters didn't faze them. Hanover's first four shooters connected confidently: Adams, Latham Allison, Judd Alexander, and Blake Palmer. Central's fourth shooter, Haris Suljevic, missed over the bar, and sophomore Evan Nichols, ice water in his veins, nearly broke the net with the force of his thunderous shot. For the second time in a week, Nichols almost ruined a promising skiing career at the bottom of a celebratory pig pile.
Central is Division One Soccer royalty. They are the only team to win three times this decade (beating Hanover 2-1 tin the 2012 Final). They lost to Bedford last year in the greatest D1 final ever. This was Hanover's first postseason win ever over Central. Now the Marauders will face unbeaten Bedford, with an 18-0-1 record and a thirty-game unbeaten streak. They only lost once last year in a championship season. That was a 2-1 loss to Hanover on two amazing Charlie Adams goals. Saturday at Memorial is going to be wicked cool. Get your Carharts on and be there at 6:30.
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