The Marauders took care of business on a warm Tuesday afternoon , beating visiting Winnacunnet for 2-1 for their fourth win in a row. Hanover is now 9-3-1 and slides into a fourth-place tie with Exeter and Concord in the NHIAA Division One standings. With games upcoming against the top two teams in the standings, their fate in firmly in their hands.
It didn't take long for Hanover to jump on top of Winnacunnet, which rolled into town as winners of three of their last four games. Jamie Dinulos set up the goal, racing past Warrior defender Thomas Vincent on the left flank and hitting a sweet centering pass to Seth Stadheim, who one-timed it into the next for his second goal of the season. The Marauders nearly doubled the lead a few minutes later when Andrew Kazal drove a sweet cross across the face of the goal, but Tim Slibozek couldn't convert the sitter.
Hanover's pressure continued throughout the half, and shortly after the first wave of subs took the pitch, the Marauders doubled the lead. Kazal hit another cross from the left side, and when Winnacunnet goalie Nick Seta was unable to handle it cleanly, Noah Kahan pounced on the ball and rolled it past the right post for his third goal in four games.
Up until this point, Hanover had completely bottled up their visitors from the Seacoast, winning balls at midfield courtesy of the trio of Berolzheimer, Levine and Caldwell, and getting excellent back line passing from Strohbehn, Greenwald, Kelly and Kazal. Pressing for a third goal, the Marauders fell victim to some excellent counterattacking play, and surrendered a well-made goal on Winnacunnet's one offensive thrust of the game. Senior striker Andrew Soderberg took a ball at midfield and hit a lead pass to Ben Cranford, who found some space outside the Hanover penalty area and hit a once-in-a-lifetime chip over Konrad Mitchell with then minutes to play in the half.
Hanover continued to attack with urgency, and had three great looks before the half ended. Seth Stadheim hit a deflected shot from in close that grazed the goalpost, Asa Berolzheimer struck a good-looking free kick just over the crossbar, and Cian Kelly crushed a bad-angle shot from the right side that forced Seta to make a quality save.
The Marauders were all business at the start of the second half, and quickly re-established their two-goal lead, scoring before two minutes had elapsed. Some good combination play gave Stadheim some room in the corner, and he hit a soft centering pass that hugged the endline. Tim Alibozek got to the ball before two Winnacunnet defenders and quickly redirected it in front to Dinulos, who cashed in at short range for his second goal of the season.
There were 38 minutes to play, but the Marauders took any suspense out of the match, completely dominating possession and territory. Hanover outshot Winnacunnet 10-1, took four more corner kicks while not conceding a single one, and saw five or six good scoring chances just miss the mark. More importantly, the Marauders accomplished this using every healthy field player. Having decided at the start to play a high pressure game and flaunt their depth, Hanover made the tactic work with players shuttling in and out of the game. In all honesty, the quality of play increased as the half wore on, a testament to the quality of play by Jake Acker, Marcus Helble, Will Smith, Avery Kravitz, Henry Allison, Adam Pikelny, Noah Kahan and Keeper Patrick Logan.
Now, Hanover turns its attention to a Homecoming matchup on Friday at 5:00 against undefeated Timberlane. The Owls are the top team in Division One with a 10-0-2 record, and are coming off of a 1-0 overtime road win against a strong Alvirne team. The Owls will be in the midst of their toughest stretch of games, but have developed a great deal of chemistry and confidence, and present the biggest challenge of the season thus far for the Marauders. The last time Timberlane lost a game was last October, at Merriman-Branch Field, when Hanover dumped them 4-1 in the NHIAA quarterfinals. In all likelihood, a quarterfinal home game is at stake for the Marauders in Friday's game. These are the games that high school athletes dream about: top teams, high stakes, and a huge Homecoming crowd on a warm fall evening. If both teams are able to rise to the occasion, it will be a night to remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment