Varsity Rallies to Beat Dover 4-3; Sixth Win in a Row

 The Varsity boys stared adversity in the face against a hot Dover team and never blinked, rallying from a two-goal deficit with 17 minutes left to play to earn a gritty 4-3 victory.  The win snapped Dover's nine-game wining streak and increased Hanover' to six, improving their record to 10-2-1 and locking them into third place in the NHIAA Division One standings.  It sets up a high-level showdown next week, when Hanover hosts second-place Manchester Central under the Friday night lights.

The road trip to Dover, rescheduled from next Tuesday due to a lack of available busses, posed several problems.  Hanover was minus both starting center backs, the heart of their defense, due to injury and a long-distance college visit.  The match was played on Dover's bumpy little grass field.  The talented hosts, entering the game with a 9-3 record, had won nine in a row.  Dover lived up to their clippings, leading 1-0 at the half, and then increasing their lead with a second half goal that put Hanover in a deep hole.  Hanover's response was epic, scoring three goals in a wild seven-minute span to regain the lead.  After giving up the game-tying goal on a sketchy penalty kick with 10 minutes to play, Hanover put an end to the madness with a goal by Eric Ringer in the final two minutes, surviving to enhance their dream of a top-four finish. 

Hanover couldn't blame the two-hour bus trip for their first-half hole.  After surrendering a dangerous corner kick, they played well against a strong Dover team for the first 19 minutes.  Oscar looked dangerous with a turnaround shot at the five minute mark, and Murphy Hunt had his shot blocked on a potentially threatening short corner kick.  Connor Hamlin hit a chip that found Oscar alone in the box, but the ball squirted loose.  Eric Ringer forced a good save by Dover goalkeeper Zach Proto.

Dover was dangerous on the counter, and midway through the half they started heating up.  Ty Nolon came well off his line to snuff an opportunity, and then Owen Smith made a daring all-ball tackle to snuff out a break into the box. The ensuing corner kick was cleared, but the ball went directly to Ethan Trejo on the right side of the box, and before he could be closed down, Trejo hit a hard, low shot past Nolon to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.  Things almost got much worse five minutes later, when a blown offsides call allowed Preston Kozlowski to break past Owen Smith and into the box.  The Dover striker got tangled with a pursuing Owen Smith, and the Green Wave were given a penalty kick.  Fortunately, the spot kick was badly missed, and Hanover was briefly off the hook, finishing the first half down by only a goal.

Hanover has customarily done a good job coming out of halftime, but Dover sensed a chance, and had two clear-cut chances in the opening minutes after the interval, missing a far-post open header, and then watching talented striker Nicholas Henao Vasquez nearly head home a corner kick. Eleven minutes into the second half, Dover made the most of a turnover and doubled the lead. Henao Vasquez stripped a Hanover defender an d started a rapid-fire counter, expertly feeding Noel Huiselan for a breakaway shot that beat Nolon and put Hanover in real jeopardy of losing.

To their great credit, Hanover didn't panic or fall apart, even though time was becoming a factor.  They slowly took the territorial edge that Dover was willing to concede, and improved the quickness and timing of their midfield passing.  With seventeen minutes to play, the got a break when a corner kick deflected off the hand of a defender, and Hanover was awarded a penalty kick.  Jacob Kubik-Pauw stepped confidently to the line and buried the spot kick, and Hanover was back in the game.  It was almost as though a switch was thrown.  Hanover swarmed the Dover penalty area, and twice on restarts they scored twice in the next six minutes, both on scrambles in the box.  Both Ryder Hayes and Zach Tracy were in the right place at the right time to pound home short-range rebounds, and when the smoke cleared Hanover had a 3-2 lead.

It was Dover's turn to rally, and they took advantage of an unusual sequence to do so. With only nine minutes remaining in regulation,  the Green Wave were awarded a penalty kick on a marginal call.  Ty Nolon read the kicker correctly and made a marvelous save to deny the kick.  Eager to make himself the center of attention, the trails official claimed that Murphy Hunt's shoelace was over the line.  He has a thing about shoelaces all game.  The burly Henao Vasquez stepped to the line, and AGAIN Nolon dove to his left and saved the kick.  This time, however, Henao Vasquez was able to pounce on the short rebound, and tie the match at 3-3.

Hanover remained composed, and continued to press for the go-ahead goal.  Eric Ringer, who had little success with free kicks on the day, was  nevertheless hitting some beastly corner kicks.  With time winding down, he got one more chance on a corner from the left side, and hit a hard, low in-swinger that somehow squeezed between the defender on the post and the goalie Zach Proto as Oscar distracted the duo. A gift?  Perhaps.  Deserved?  Absolutely.  Hanover managed to stave off any more Dover danger during a long stretch of injury time, and walked off with an important win.

In addition to the goal scorers, Hanover had several other heroes. Alex McGrath did a wonderful job in his first varsity start at center back, and Peter Jorgenson, promoted from the JV1 squad earlier in the week, provided valuable relief minutes, precisely as anticipated.

Hanover has a week off before facing one off their biggest challenges of the season, a Friday night visit from Manchester Central.  The Little Green are a solid second in the standings, continuing to add to their reputation as one of the most talented and dangerous teams in the state. They were the best team in the state last year before being upset by Windham in the playoffs,  and they appear to be just as strong this year.  It's the perfect challenge at the perfect time as the regular season winds down, giving Hanover a chance to see how far they have come.