Freshmen Open The Season With a 5-0 Win at Memorial

The Marauder Freshman Soccer Team had the honor of being the first of Hanover's four squads to play a regular-season match, and they succeeded in every respect, going on the road and beating the Manchester Memorial freshmen 5-0.  First-year Coach Dan Robel offers the following account:

"It was definitely game number one. Hanover got off to a very slow start. There were a lot of missed connections, and very little chemistry for the first 25 minutes. We tried to keep players subbing in twos by position so they were always on the pitch with someone they had been playing with to help players get comfortable with each other and build chemistry.

     

By the 25th minute we managed to break through when Alex Rockwell won a 50/50 ball up top with only the keeper to beat and buried it. That was it for first half scoring and even through the remainder of the first half we still struggled to find that chemistry.  By the start of the second half we had had essentially two full rotations of two full teams and you could see keeping the players with the same linemates really started paying dividends. Passes started connecting, and confidence started growing. 

 

In the 52 minute, Jack Ross buried an absolutely beautiful shot that caught the upper 90 from the 18. No keeper could have stopped it. Four minutes later, Oscar intercepted a ball in the Memorial box and from 16 yards out, turned his hips and went top corner. The keeper got a fingertip to it but it wasn't enough. The ensuing kickoff was intercepted and Connor Hamlin took the ball to the corner, dropped the cross on the six where Eric Tysinger found the back of the net with his head. Finally, in the 64th minute, Murphy Hunt took a great pass from Charlie Birkmeyer in the box, executed a one touch trap, next touch shot and put it right between the keeper's hands. It was hit too hard for the Memorial goalie to have a chance. 

 

On the other end Palmer Okai , Daniel Jaccaci and James Kirkpatrick did a great job shutting down any Memorial offensive threats, making it a boring day for Jackson Fisher in goal, except on two different plays. Memorial sprung a player and twice Jackson aggressively came out and challenged the breakaways and both times forced the shots wide. Final score:  Hanover 5, Memorial 0."

The Freshmen will take Tuesday off, and train Wednesday after school.  The practice bus will leave at 3:00, allowing an hour after dismissal to do a little homework.  On Thursday, the team will leave school after 6th period (having made sure to ask permission from 7th period teachers the day before) and play the Bishop Guertin Freshmen at 4:30 at Mines Falls Park in Nashua.