Varsity Loses Second Straight, 1-0 at Nashua South

 The Varsity had tough sledding for the second game in a row, losing 1-0 to Nashua South at Stellos Stadium.  Hanover gave up a soft goal in the fourth minute and were chasing the game for the rest of the afternoon.  Although they enjoyed an edge in territory and in shots, margins that the Purple Panthers were happy to concede, they were unable to muster enough danger in the final third, suffering a shutout for the second match win a row.  Now 4-2-1, Hanover will have the better part of a week to rest up for their next match on Saturday.

Things got off to an ominous start for Hanover in the opening minutes.  After settling in and setting up shop in Nashua South's end of the field, Purple Panther goalkeeper Leo Kopicko lofted a high punt that came down at the far side of the center circle, landing between center backs Palmer Okai and Jack Ross.  Striker Jadiel Bomfim took advantage of a lack of communication between the two and darted in between them, taking the ball in on goal, benefitting from a lack of coverage.  He veered left ion the box and took a hard shot that beat goalie Ty Nolon, and Nashua had all of the offense that they would need.

The South defense, who had scored an early goal and then hunkered down to beat Manchester Central two days earlier, were more than willing to allow Hanover plenty of possession, but for the rest of the half they were unable to be dangerous.  Eric Ringer hit the wall with a shot on a tantalizing free kick opportunity, and late in the half Zane Schiffman and Jack Gardner had decent shots on goal.  The half ended with the Panthers on top.  

Hanover did a better job in the second half, and had some good looks in the early going. The best of these was a header off the crossbar by Okai on a free kick.  Murphy Hunt got a deflected header on goal on another free kick in the 49th minute.  Fifteen minutes into the half, Oscar Miller got behind the defense on a clean breakaway, but his attempt was blocked by Kopicko.  Hanover's territorial edge invited a few counterattacks, and on Nashua's only good chance of the half, Bomfim was robbed of a goal when Connor Hamlin slid across the goalmouth to block his point blank shot. Hanover's last good chance came with nine minutes left when Jacob-Kubik-Pauw hit a free kick from the right side past the near post.

Hanover could muster plenty of excuses, but that's a futile exercise.  The game was there to be won against a beatable team, and on this day the team was unable to make it happen on both ends of the field. Their important task now is to look back and reflect before they look forward, and own all of the ways in which they could have and can do better.  Back to work for a week.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JV1 Rallies Twice to Open The Season; Beats Concord 3-2

It took the JV1 a half to settle down and take care of business, but Hanover was resilient in rallying twice and scoring the only goal of the second half to defeat Concord in their season opener. The host Crimson Tide jumped out to a 1-0 lead when a careless back pass created an opening for a bad angle shot by Concord's talented and flamboyant striker. Ten minutes later, Ian Press and Sam Calderwood combined to create a game-tying goal. Calderwood played Press into space, and Ian returned the favor as the speedy Calderwood sped for his return pass, hitting a hard shot and then finishing the rebound from the Tide keeper's save. After Hanover keeper Christian Blix kept things tied with a good save, Concord went ahead when Hanover once again failed to protect the ball in the back. A square pass was picked off by the Tide's sole scoring threat, who put his team in front 2-1 and then let the world know that he was the man. Careful, Flamboyant Concord Striker - Karma's a ...
Read more

We're Back in the DR! The 2022 Trip Diary Begins

 Dear Friends and Supporters of DR Projects - This is the first in a series of Blog Posts for the DR Projects trip in April, 2022.  I'm hiding out as part of the 2019 trip blog because I am not getting along with Blogspot with regard to starting a brand new blog.  We'll make sure that everyone finds their way to this one!  After two successful trips in 2019 (the one chronicled here below and the one led later in the year by Frank Perotti), we had big plans for our next trip in 2020, with the particular goal, of continuing the reading program at the Altagracia elementary school in Cotui.  Everything was in place:  we had seen the curriculum in action, we had two dedicated teachers, and we had a cadre of volunteers ready to take things to the next level.  On a larger scale in the DR, our ally and inspiring role model Juan Valdez, was making significant progress in his visionary goal of helping every underserved child in his country to learn English. It's...
Read more

Varsity Rallies From Three Down to Beat BG 8-3

 In one of the more astonishing games in Hanover's long history, the Varsity trailed Bishop Guertin by three goals with 27 minutes to play, and scored eight goals, including five in a five-minute span, to beat the Cardinals 8-3.  The win gives Hanover am 11-3-1 record and all but locks them into a top four spot in the Division One standings, providing they can get a result in Thursday's Senior Day clash with Winnacunnet. Going into the match with Bishop Guertin, a team likely to finish out of the playoffs, Hanover expected to score a lot of goals and play everyone on the team.  That all happened, but hardly to way the anyone might have anticipated.  Hanover started the game flat, trailed after eight minutes, conceded another shaky goal on the 23rd minute, and then after Eric Ringer missed a penalty kick the would have cut the deficit in half, conceded a shocking third goal with five minutes to play, the second by the speedy Rayaan Hameed. Trailing by three at halftim...
Read more