Varsity Beats Keene 2-0; JV1 Loses First to Keene, 1-0

 The Varsity and JV1 team celebrated the start of the second week of school with a longish road trip to Keene, the first of four such trips in the next week. Logistically, the trip went well.  We all crammed onto the bus successfully after a quick snack, arrived just in time to experience the dismissal of 1,397 students as we tried to squeeze in the opposite direction, and made it onto the well-groomed fields in time for a decent warmup. (Breaking the linear nature of these narratives, we can report that the post game repast on the bleachers was efficient and relaxed.  We ate up everything that had been provided for us, and made it home seasonably).

Now for the games:  The Varsity won 2-0, stretching their modest win streak to four games.  They totally dominated the match, outshooting Keene 32-1 and earning 17 corner kicks to 0.  Details to follow.  The JV1s had a less entertaining experience.  A really nice goal, with Augie Krawitt setting up Sam Calderwood, was inexplicably waved off.  A pass that travels slightly backwards to a teammate, cannot, for any reason, be called offsides.  But it was.  Bummer.  After that, Coach Willie's minions could not find their mojo offensively, conceded one goal, and lost for the first time this season, 1-0.  Now 3-1, they will try to regain form two days hence when they travel to Exxex to play Champlain Valley Union as part of the Jay Brady Classic.

The Varsity game was in several ways not unlike the preceding 2-0 over Bedford.  The opposition was earnest, young, well-coached and overmatched.  Hanover had 80 percent of the possession.  As a result, with the upcoming games in mind, several starters sat out, and both Owen Smith and Ben Woods got their first Varsity starts, and did extremely well.  The usual suspects started up top, and showed some dangerous flashes, earning five corner kicks win the first ten minutes.  Keene had exactly one counterattack, which forced Ty Nolon to come off his line to the ends of the box and win a 50-50 ball with a sliding tackle.  He did this successfully, later handled the single shot on goal, and earned his second shutout.  Hanover subbed midway through the half and continued to probe the Keene defense.  Palmer Okai came close on one of the ten corners in the half, volleying a good Zane Schiffman corner over the top. Palmer sustained a frightening injury, frightening only because the accidental punch in the mouth occurred on the day before HHS Photo Day.  Oh, the humanity.  Hanover finally scoring the eventual winning goal on a nice counterattack.  Murphy Hunt, who had re-entered the game as a sitting middle, got control of the ball in his own half and glided into attacking mode, beating a few tackles and then sliding the ball to Jack Gardner, who drove into the box and hammered a shot home for his first goal of the season.

As they had done against Bedford, Hanover came out of the interval with a formation change suited to a one-sided game, switching to three backs and an extra attacking midfielder.  The tactical adjustment worked perfectly.  Hanover outshot Keene 21-0, and looked effective even with a flood of replacements coming off the bench.  The last 15 minutes were the most one-sided.  Oscar got the half off to a great start, cruising into the box and cracking a shot that beleaguered goalkeeper Caz Couble managed to save.Ten minutes later Eric Ringer missed a sitter at the right post, his best chance of several on the day.  Sean Smith and Charlie Forbush were both effective at attacking center mid, and each created several shots.  Charlie was robbed by Couble, who made a full-out diving save to pull a sailing shot out of the upper right corner of the goal.  With 12 minutes to play, Murphy Hunt was robbed of a certain chance to keep his goal-scoring streak alive, diving to his right to punch out a low shot headed just inside the left upright. Pierce Seigne made the most of his minutes, playing position well, passing effectively, and eventually finding himself at the far post on a Ben Woods corner kick.  The hard inswinger came right to him, and his hard header was saved by Couble.  Will Guerin was in exact sam e spot a few minutes earlier, and connected on an equally good cross by Zane Schiffman, who collected his first dime of the season on Guerin's first goal. Speaking of firsts, every field player got time on the field, which meant two more Varsity debuts.  

Hanover got a result, got a clean sheet, rested several players, and left several more very hungry to score. Sounds like a decent day for a team that now heads north to play the Vermont school with the most Hanover-y reputation, Champlain Valley Union.  CVU has a ton of state titles, a plethora of Nordic and Far Post players, and  will provide just the sort of challenge Hanover needs at this state of the season.  The 5:00 game kicks off the Jay Brady Classic, a longstanding tournament held at Essex High, the socioeconomic Bedford equivalent in the Burlington area.  Hanover plays Essex at the pinnacle of the Brady bash on Saturday night.  Hanover has done everything asked of them thus far on the season but they haven't been pushed hard yet.  Now, in the next two games, they will be.  Bring it.