Varsity Beats Young Bedford Squad 2-0; Now 3-0 On The Season

 Over the last decade, Hanover's soccer battles with Bedford have been epic.  Bedford has been one of the top three or four programs in Division One during that time.  The Bulldogs have been coached from the school's inception by Stuart Pepper, an accomplished coach and dedicated educator. Prior to Saturday's match, Hanover had the good fortune in the last two years to beat perhaps better Bedford teams in the playoffs.  In 2019, the then-Marauders stole the state title in a shootout.  Last year, Hanover beat the Bulldogs 1-0 with big plays on offense and defense. This year, for the first time since D2 Hanover beat a D2 Bedford team with no upperclassmen in the school's first year, the game was a mismatch.  A senior-laden Hanover team was host to a Bulldog squad that was young but small.  The roster included four freshmen and eight sophomores.  Only two of their six seniors got playing time.  Despite the mismatch on paper, though, it still would take a good effort for Hanover to win. 

Fortunately, Hanover played very well, dominated every aspect of the game, and emerged with a 2-0 victory that hiked their early-season record to 3-0.  Murphy Hunt and Oscar Miller scored,  Hanover dominated the midfield, and the defense did everything required to allow goalkeeper Ty Nolon to post his first clean sheet of the season.

Right from then start, Bedford sat back and put nine players behind the ball.  Hanover, having learned lessons from their preseason shutout at the hands of Lebanon, did and nice job probing patiently, and the shots started coming right away.  Murphy Hunt had the first salvo, a quick flick from just inside the 18 that sailed past the right upright. Two minutes later, Jacob Kubik-Pauw had a better calling card, ripping a hard shot from a bad angle on the left that was vacuumed up by Bedford goalkeeper Jacob Redman, who would go on to have a career day in goal.  Two minutes after that, Eric Ringer launched a shot from the right side that required a very good save from Redman. Hanover was piling up both shots and dangerous corner kicks, and it seemed that it would only be a matter of time. The game-wining goal came in the eleventh minute, at the conclusion of a goal mouth scramble that saw Oscar Miller collect his second goal of the season.

Bedford was smart enough to sit back and wait for chances to counter, and sure enough, on one of their very few forays down the right side, Hanover gave away a silly foul that gifted Bedford a dangerous free kick.  They almost paid for it.  The ball was well-played across the face of the goalmouth, and Bulldog Jaxson Whitehead got to a loose ball first and hit a hard shot that was headed for the lower right corner.  Hanover goalkeeper Ty Nolon flashed to his left and palmed the ball past the post, almost exactly re-enacting his save that had preserved the game in the playoffs.  Hanover dealt with the ensuing corner kick, and that was literally the only chance that Before would have the rest of the day.

The most interesting shot statistic from the first half was that seven different Hanover players had good scoring chances. Carter Guerin almost duplicated Jacob's bad angle attempt from the left flank, and Becket McCurdy, who was a master in deep midfield, got another look from his favorite shooting area at the top of the circle.

Halftime was a time for adjustment for Hanover.  Svengali Sam Farnham proposed a change in alignment that would take advantage of Bedford's disinclination to go forward, and give Hanover more juice in midfield.  It worked superbly.  Hanover outshot Bedford 11-0, and after several close calls they tallied the all-important second goal.  Just before, Oscar Miller had one of the most dramatic scoring attempts, drilling a hard, low shot that caromed off of a prone Bedford defender and zoomed into the waiting arms of Redman.  The respite lasted only seconds, as Carter Guerin threaded a ball into space for Murphy Hunt, and the senior sniper crashed his fourth goal of the season into the net.  He has now scored in each of Hanover's first three games.

Hanover kept probing for more, and one of their best chances came when junior defender Owen Smith, who had a strong game, snuck to the back post on a corner kick and almost headed him his first career goal.  Jack Gardner was very effective in the mixer, facilitating opportunities for himself and his mates, and freshman Charlie Forbush looked very effective in his first varsity stint.

After a week on the turf, Hanover will return to natural surfaces for all of next week, beginning with a Labor Day training at the Pasture in preparation for Tuesday's road trip to Keene.  Looming down the road at the end of the week is a challenging opportunity to play the best two teams in Vermont, Champlain Valley and Essex.  These are regular season games.  They count in the standings.  They are a great opportunity to be tested by two of the top franchises in Northern New England.  Hanover has grown a great deal in the last three weeks, and with room for more improvement, they are right on course to do what they need to do to realize their fond hopes for the season.