Hanover had the perfect formula for bouncing back from their Saturday loss to Nashua South, their first in nearly two years. They enjoyed one of their most productive practice sessions on Monday, and then donned their long-awaited black road uniforms for their match with Salem. The Other Will Smith led the men in black to a satisfying 4-1 victory over the Blue Devils, keeping the Hanover in second place in the NHIAA Division One standings.
The Marauders were so excited about their new strip that they chose to warm up in their black-long-sleeved jerseys, designed for playing soccer in late October and November. The only problem was that the day's rain had departed, and a warm sun bathed Grant Field at Salem, threatening to make Hanover's garb seasonally appropriate. "Don't worry," crooned Coach Grabill to Henry Allison. "I'll conjure up a few clouds." Allison, a seasoned outdoorsman, looked skeptical, but before he could react further a bank of clouds boiled up on the western horizon, keeping things nice and cool. The stage was set.
Hanover started briskly, with Ian Caldwell hammering a long shot over the bar in the early going, and Jonah Levine authoring a similarly threatening scoring bid. The Marauders had a decent territorial edge, although Salem showed the potential to counterattack, especially with some shabby tackling by the Marauder back four. At the midway point of the half, Assistant Coach Ben Snyder sidled up to Grabill and suggested inserting Josh Wallace, Jake Acker and Will Smith to give the offense a little jolt. "Are you nuts?", hissed Grabill. "Wallace is due, but the other two are strictly garbage time players." Snyder persisted in his advocacy for the trio, and Grabill relented. Thirty seconds after the switch, Wallace carried the ball down the right touchline and hit a timely right-footed centering pass. A Salem clearing pass went awry, and Acker pounced on the ball and made a skillful run through the defense to the baseline before hitting a sharp right-footed cross that was met by a streaking Smith with a rocket header into the back of the net. Tick, tack, toe. Grabill sidled over the Snyder and clutched his arm. "Remember, Ben, those subs were my idea, capiche?" Snyder was more interested in watching Smith untangle himself from the net, where he had almost decapitated himself with the force of his run.
Hanover's one-goal looked tenuous when Salem's All-State forward Todd Righini hit a rocket of a shot off the upright when the Marauder midfield defense allowed him too much room. With five minutes to play in the half the lead disappeared when Righini converted a well-executed free-kick opportunity in the penalty area, whipping a hard shot past the Hanover wall into the corner of the net.
Facing a disappointing halftime tie, the Marauders reacted immediately after their kickoff. Jonah Levine ran onto a loose ball just over midfield, and played a one-time pass to Ian Caldwell. Caldwell spun and played a pass to Tim Alibozek on the right wing, and TimmyTime hit an immediate return pass into space for Caldwell. Bucket rumbled into the Salem penalty area, deftly eluded a lunging defender and closing towards the goal. Not far from the right post, he hit a bad angle shot into the upper right corner. Caldwell's spectacular score came exactly 25 seconds after the kickoff. It was a masterful response, and gave the Marauders a huge boost going into the half.
Well aware of the danger of counterattacks after the interval, Hanover nevertheless pressed the attack.
With 20 minutes left in the match, the Marauders went to the bench again and got instant results. After a good buildup orchestrated by Levine, Acker jumped on a loose ball in the Salem penalty area and drove a hard shot on net. Blue Devil goalkeeper Drew Hailey made the save, but Josh Wallace, streaking in from the left wing, was in a perfect position to pound the ball into the net for a 3-1 lead.
Barely a minute later, the Marauders put the game out of reach. Some excellent midfield passing sprung Wallace loose on the left wing, and Josh's early and well-placed crossing pass connected with a streaking Seth Stadheim, who gave Hanover a 4-1 advantage with his first varsity goal. Game, set and match.
Actually , Stadheim wasn't the only Marauder to open his account. Each of the Hanover goal scorers had tallied a first career score, representing the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes. That's who the Marauders are this year. They are growing with each game, and new heroes are answering the call with every outing.
The final ten minutes of the game were handled with aplomb by even more fresh faces. Salem had another gilt-edged scoring chance when Righini had the opportunity to tee up a free kick just outside of the Marauder penalty area. Relief goalkeeper Patrick Logan expertly constructed a defensive wall, and the phalanx of players stood firm as Righini's drive screamed into their midst. Reilly Decker took one for the team, and emerged unscathed.
"This was an important win," commented Grabill, "especially because of the quality of the goals we created, and because of our response to several challenges during the course of the match. We're a better team than we were a week ago, and we have a lot more ground to cover." The Marauders now have a week to prepare for a big showdown at home against perennial power Bedford. "We hope we can make the most of that week," said Grabill. "We're moving in the right direction."
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