Hanover High Boys Soccer 2021

 Hanover faces its most significant game of the season on Monday, playing Manchester Central in the NHIAA Division One semifinals at 4:00 at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.  The winner will play the victor in an intriguing Nashua North vs, Nashua South matchup in the second game of the doubleheader.  The venue is a familiar one for Hanover.  They have played twice this year at Stellos, once when they lost 1-0 to top-seeded Nashua South, and more recently when they staged their miracle comeback against Bishop Guertin. Hanover is also quite familiar with Central, who beat them 1-0 two weeks ago, their only other in-state loss this season.  The top three teams in the state have made it to Stellos,  a scenario that has been looming since September, when Nashua South beat both the Little Green and Hanover back to back.  All three teams are evenly-matched. Logistics:  Hanover will wear white against Central.  The team is dismissed at 1:05, and will depa...

 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, a...

 Hanover will host Pinkerton Academy of Derry Friday at 4:00 in the NHIAA Division One Quarterfinals. The winner will advance to the semifinals at 4:00 on Monday, held at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.  Hanover (13-3-1) did not play Pinkerton (8-7-2) in the regular season.  The Astros won their first-round game 2-1, beating archival Londonderry. This will be Hanover's last home game of the season, and the last chance to collect non-perishable food items for The Haven Food Pantry.  Collection bins are located at the top of the stairway.

 Hanover will host a quarterfinal NBHIAA Tournament game against upset winner Pinkerton Academy at 4:00 Friday.  Hanover's quarterfinal opponent emerged after #11 Pinkerton's 2-1 victory over #6 Londonderry.   The suggested theme for Friday's game:  "Trick or Treat".  Suggested dress code:  Halloween costumes!  Perhaps everyone should come as Bears, Huskies, Hawks, Trailblazers, and Jalapeños It's the last home game for any Hanover fall team in any sport, and the weather looks favorable.  Here's another reason for everyone to come:  We will be hosting our final Food Drive for the Haven.  We have had wonderful donations of non-perishable food items for the Haven Food Pantry, and this is the final opportunity to donate.  We are particularly interested in having members of the JV1, JV2, and Freshman teams join us for the game and bring food items. Pinkertons's upset win over Londonderry was only one of five first-round games which saw ...

 There will be many ways to characterize the 2021 Hanover season, but "boring" or "predictable" won't be among the adjectives employed.  Fifteen seconds away from the end of their season, Hanover got a clutch goal from Jack Gardner to escape into overtime against Alvirne, and the completed the comeback with a golden goal in the second overtime to beat the Broncos 2-1 and advance to the quarterfinals of the NHIAA Division One tournament. Hanover played well for the entire match and dominated for long stretches, running up a 36-7 shot advantage and collecting 14 corner kicks, allowing only 1 to Alvirne.  However, with 10 minutes to play it took a missed penalty kick to keep Hanover alive, and when Alvirne scored on a counterattack with six minutes left in regulation, things looked bleak.  Hanover stayed composed when it would have been easy to panic or despair, and tied the match at the very end of regulation when Carter Guerin set up Jack Gardner for turnaround m...

The Hanover JV1 team would have the chance to compete in the Roger Desmarais JV boys soccer state tournament this past Sunday for the first time since 2018 (2019 being cancelled due to rain and 2020 due to COVID). The lads took to the bus at 6:25 slated to play their first game of group play at 8:50. Upon arrival just before 8:00, the team was met with a brisk cold morning with frost still covering most of the fields. The team slowly got dressed for the first game vs Dover and many opted to leave their sweats (shirt or pants) on to maintain some warmth as they played. Watching the resolve of the Winnacunnet vs. South match end in a 0-0 draw, Hanover was hopeful with that result knowing that it could be possible to advance with a win and two draws.  The first game vs. The Green Wave of Dover had some spot starts by Marco Rodreguiz, Joseph Rudd, Sayan Bhattacharya, with coach Willie looking to get everyone a start during group play. Hanover would lose the coin flip and be stuck on a ...

 For the 45th year on a row, Hanover will compete in the NHIAA playoffs, beginning on Tuesday at 3:00 with a game against Alvirne High School.  Hanover (12-3-1) is seeded third.  If they win, they will host a quarterfinal match on Friday, time TBA.  Tuesday's game will be played, rain or shine.  We're still looking for a few members of the Freshman team to volunteer as ball boys for the match.  Come to the field immediately after school if you are interested. The uniform return process got off to a slow start on Monday.  We are hoping that all JV1, JV2 and freshman players return their game and practice uniforms to the Atrium as soon as possible in the clearly-marked bins. There is open soccer in the Gym Tuesday during Activity Period.