Hanover Beats Pinkerton 2-0 in Playoff Quarterfinals; On to The Semis!

 Hanover played one of its best games of the season at the right time on Friday, combining timely offense with stingy defense to beat Pinkerton 2-0 in the NHIAA Division One quarterfinals.  Hanover got important goals from Oscar and Murphy Hunt,  got big saves from Ty Nolon in goal when they were needed, and saw the game off by dominating territorially.  They now advance to the Semifinals at Stellos Stadium for a showdown on Monday at 4:00 with Manchester Central, a 3-0 winner over Winnacunnet.

Hanover's Achilles heel at times has been slow starts, and while this may have helped they gain confidence that they can come from behind, it's not the way to survive and advance in late October. They solved that issue with a wonderful goal in the seventh minute.  Luke Ives got control of the ball deep in midfield and served a perfect ball into the Pinkerton defensive third.  Oscar (who recently had been demoted back to Oscar Miller) made a perfect run to the ball, arriving before luckless Astro goalkeeper Will Paginini and immediately beating him with a shot that was strong enough to roll into the vacated goal.  If he had taken the extra touch, the goal never would have happened.  It was a classic striker's goal, and it's the kind Oscar has scored before and will score again. Back to one name, as agreed upon.

Pinkerton had their one and only shot in the 12th minute, when the ball fell to striker Noah Sands at the edge of the Hanover box, shaded to the right, and he whipped a hard, swerving shot that sailed past the right post.  It was dangerous, but that was it in the first half.  Hanover was doing a good job at midfield, and spent the rest of the half challenging the Pinkerton defense.  Eric Ringer teed up a free kick in then 15th minute that forced Paginini to make a diving save to his left, coughing up a corner kick.  Three minutes later, a quick flurry gave both Murphy Hunt and Jack Gardner the chance to hit good shots from up close that each forced saves.  Midway through the half, Jack Ross got his head one one of Hanover's five corner kicks, but put it over the top.  Five minutes before the interval, Jacob Kubik-Pauw hit a long shot that tested Paginini.

Hanover had played well enough, but they had left room for Pinkerton to rally, and they heard it a bit at halftime.  Halftime orations rarely have an impact, and probably didn't on this occasion.  But Hanover got the clinching goal 66 seconds into the second half, and the game was all but done.  Jacob Kubik-Pauw got room on the left side and hit a low cross into the box.  The ball ticked off Oscar, but not enough for I'm to claim an assist, and found Murphy Hunt's feet, and Murphy found the back of the next for his seventh goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Pinkerton has a championship pedigree.  They have knocked Hanover out of the playoffs twice in the last seven years, more than anyone else, and they got off the mat one more time, and his two shots that could have inserted them back into the match.  The first was a low liner through traffic by Landan Villeneuve that was saved by Ty Nolon with a cat-like dive to his right.  A minute later, Nate Hall hit a shot from nearly the same spot that really should have beaten Nolon high to his left, but he made a great, diving reaction save, flicking his right hand across his body (too much information, but he works hard on this stuff).  Six minutes later, Hanover had great team defense on a dangerous free kick outside of the box, and Pinkerton never got a shot on goal.  Their day was done.

From that moment, Hanover hung onto the lead in the best way possible, camping out in Pinkerton's end of the park and trying to increase the lead.  Twenty minutes from the end,  Eric Ringer got in a good position to get his head on a Kubik-Pauw cross, but he didn't get all of it and Paginini made the save.  

With 10 minutes to play, and without much fanfare, Palmer Okai trotted back to his spot in the center of the defense for the first time in five weeks.  He mad a pass, he made a decent header, he talked a good bit, and he survived, perhaps to play a bit more another day.  It was good to see him back in the lineup. The Hanover co-Captain got to watch several really good scoring attempts as the game wound down.  Carter Guerin just missed after taking a nice cross from Kubik-Pauw, and then was denied with a point blank save by the gutty Paginini with five minutes to play.  Even closer to the end, Ringer hit a long hard shot that forced a save, and Will Guerin almost scored an amazing goal on the rebound, but putting it wide from a bad angle.  Hanover ended up outshooting Pinkerton 25-3, and forced Paganini to make 13 good saves.  It felt closer than that until it was over, but it was a solid effort.

Now Hanover is beck to the semifinals, the only team in all of Division One to be there for each of the last four years. This is a year when they have a chance to get where they want to go. Two of the four teams remain are Manchester Central and Nashua South, the top two seeds, and the only teams in New Hampshire to beat Hanover, both 1-0 scores.  Semifinal opponent Central is an excellent team, full of talented individuals and wise in all of the ways that can coax a call from an official. Hanover will be challenged as hard as they have been all season, but Monday is the moment that they have been training for all season.  They will be equal to the task, and if they play up to their potential, they will be playing even later into November.  They are still writing their distinctive, impressive history.