Friday's road trip to the frying field turf at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter presented a number of challenges. First of all, the Blue Hawks are still always a threat in Division One soccer circles. It took an overtime goal by Rocco Linehan to beat them 1-0 in overtime last year, and that was in Hanover. Then there was the heat. The air temperature in Exeter at game time was 91. Fortunately, the Marauders handles both the heat and the Hawks and put together a dominating 2-0 victory on the strength of second half goal by Asa Berolzheimer and Jamie Dinulos, and an increasingly effective defense.
Hanover's first near-heatstroke experience happened three hours before game time, in the sweltering bowels of a bus with no AC. Fortunately, after 30 minutes of near-heatstroke, the Marauders stopped in Warner to change coaches, and the remainder of the trip was more temperate. Kudos to the Premier pit crew that made the changeover in record time. It was your basic NH Motor Speedway "four tires and tank of gas in 30 seconds" miracle.
One the team arrived at Exeter, they employed a three-pronged methodology for beating the heat:
stay in the shade (thanks for the tents, Strohbehns!), sub like crazy (thanks to the deep Marauder bench), and throw an icy towel on every player exiting the game (thanks for the idea, Jeni Frechette!).
That said, Hanover still had to play well, and they responded with their best effort of the season. It took a while for them to get going, but even though it took their offense a while to get into gear, the Marauder midfield dominated possession, and the defense limited Exeter to one shot, well-blocked by Max Greenwald. Hanover tried 12 shots over the course of the half, and attempted four corner kicks. The good news is that the Marauders were creating opportunities, even though the finishing was lacking. Jonah Levine sailed a shot wide. Jamie Dinulos played a nice ball across the face of the ball, but had no takers. Chris Powell had a nice go at the net.
With 10 minutes to play in the half, Hanover turned up the heat a bit. Noah Kahan hit a sweet volley that just missed the far post by a bot or two, and then crossed the ball after a run to the baseline that nearly got turned into the net by Jonah Levine.
All the while, the Marauders were shuttling subs in about out, which kept everyone fresher and also gave the non-starters a chance to show that they were ready for prime time. Josh Wallace, Jake Acker, Kahan, Powell, Avery Kravitz and Reilly Decker answered the call, and the results of the shuttle system didn't take long to manifest themselves in the second half.
There was one more sub to make during halftime, as starting goalkeeper Konrad Mitchell jammed his knee, and junior Connor Edson made his first varsity appearance in net. He did superbly, managing the game and doing particularly with timely distribution once the ball was in his hands.
Three minutes into the second half, the Marauders struck paydirt. Asa Berolzheimer hit a soft ball across the middle, but Cian Kelly stepped forward briskly to maintain possession, and hit a penetrating pass to the top of the Blue Hawk box. The ball was cleared, but Tim Alibozek won possession and hit a sweet ball to Jonah Levine, absorbing a hard hit after the fact. Levin held off another rough challenge and drove a low cross to the far post where it was met by Jamie Dinulos, who first-timed it over the line before Exeter keeper Henrik Barbin could scrape it off the line.
Hanover made it 2-0 fifteen minutes later after a long stretch of midfield play. Just after a new set of subs came on, Josh Wallace and Avery Kravitz got the ball deep in the Exeter end on the right flank. Exeter cleared, but the ball went straight to a lurking Cian Kelly. A fried Exeter midfielder made a half-baked challenge, but Kelly had far too much time, and he punished the mistake with a perfect cross into the box. Asa Berolzheimer barely had to move, heading the ball perfectly back across the
face of the goal and hitting side netting for his third goal of the season.
Hanover kept pressing, and might have had a third goal after Seth Stadheim, buzzing as usual in the box, almost converted a cross form Kahan before he was hauled down by a defender. Foul on big Seth, as the poor 6'2" defender stayed on the ground in a heap. Stadheim almost tallied again after nearly dispossessing the substitute keeper on a poor back pass. Noah Kahan almost floated a header over the keeper on a play reminiscent of Xavy Tchana's playoff goal against Timberlane last year, and the Kahan almost played the hard-working Kelly in alone.
Hanover's defense was hardly tested, although Luke Strohbehn, the best defender on any team that we've seen all year, made a great one on one defensive play deep in his end on one of Exeter's few forays. Will Smith joined the parade of subs with a creditable 10 minutes of coherent work, and in the end Exeter just couldn't answer a Hanover team that continues to find itself. Each outing has been better than the last, and the improvement could not come at a better time. Lurking just ahead is a showdown with 2-0 Londonderry at home on Tuesday at 4:00. This is an early-season clash between arguably the two best teams in the Division at the moment. There is much soccer to be played, and both Hanover and the Lancers figure to be title contenders, but there's a lot on the line . Having beaten the heat on Friday, the Marauders hope to apply a little of their own, and guard their house.
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