Thursday, September 22, 2016

Freshmen Beat Cardigan Mountain 1-0 in a Classic Match


The sun was bright at Dresden for the freshmen match Wednesday between Hanover's marooned ones and the well-coached, talented club from Cardigan Mountain.

The first half started with Cardigan controlling possession and firing a couple of shots that Joey Perras brilliantly saved, which he continued to do throughout the close match.  Joey was a rock wall, and the vocal captain athletically saved four smoked, well-placed Cardigan shots.

15 minutes in, our boys started to warm up, we began to control the ball more, with Latham Allison running the offense from center midfield, sending nice long serves wide and short, where we often got bogged down moving to the goal.  Not many shots were launched, and those which were got  swatted away by their solid keeper. 

These were two well-matched teams, as indicated by the 0 – 0 score at the half. To single out strong individual performances would be to list the entire roster. This was a complete team effort, which carried on into and through the second half.

As the second half continued and Hanover started more and more to control the ball, Allison swung a deflected ball across to Quincy McBride, who streaked to open space at 20 yards and took a touch in stride, ripping the game's only goal just inside the right post.

The lead held up, with Perras making a diving save on a hard, low shot to his right to preserve the lead and the game.

In the context of a great total team win, Judd Alexander was solid and unrelenting at center back, Ethan Ross helped anchor the back line, Will Blinkhorn stopped early CM runs, Pat Osborn blazed up and down the field to win balls and apply good pressure all day, and Eli Stack used his gritty speed to keep balls in the offensive end for his mates.

As the heat of afternoon faded to a perfect warm September early evening, the boys packed their bags with pride and smiles from a great win.

Next up is a match Saturday at 11:00, versus Merrimack on our home turf.

Be there, and please bring your great Marauder fan sportsmanship.

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