Reserves Lose A Close Game to Sunapee

We're catching up on Reserve game accounts.  Here is Coach McEwen's entry about last weeks' close loss to Sunapee.  Look for the story about Monday's game with Mt. Royal very soon.

Thursday's match with Sunapee was a learning game.  The match started off well.  Hanover set the tone early and played a very good possession game, and started putting the ball on frame.  They finally broke in on pure driving effort.  Joe Brennan collected a pass from Theo Sparks and put the ball on net.  The goalie stopped the shot, but couldn't hold onto the ball. Joe, who was playing heads up aggressive soccer pounced on the opportunity and managed to push the ball into the goal while falling down.  Sunapee had some speed and skill.  They responded a few minutes later with a goal after a miscommunication in the Hanover backfield.   Hanover once again though pulled ahead with classic back and forth between Andrew Enelow and Theo in the box where Theo coolly placed the ball in the corner of the net.  Sunapee once again found the back of the net before the half, tying the match at 2-2.

   The second half started well.  Hanover was attacking from both the center and the width.  Hanover scored first in the half with a though  ball, this time from Theo to Andrew who slipped past the defense and a found the corner netting.  Sunapee answered quickly though with two goals to take a 4-3 lead. Sunapee had very fast and skilled forward, and goalkeeper Eric Seltzer and the defense were doing all they could at certain points to keep him at bay.  This pressure did create a corner where a miscue on the baseline opened up a space for Sunapee to score.  The fourth goal came after missed coverage in the midfield led to an opening to goal where the same Sunapee forward capitalized on it and scored.

    At this point there was long stoppage in play due to a Sunapee injury.   When play finally started Hanover scored almost immediately from great long range shot from Henry Bernard that just cleared the top post.  After that the game settled a true back and forth effort.  Where Hanover dominated the midfield and set up repeated chances on net and Sunapee pressed forward and really threatened when the ball fell to their forward and right wing.  It was an entertaining 20 minutes.   Alas, within the last minute of play Sunapee finally broke through and scored in the final minute despite Andrew Enelow's saves and fearless forays off the line, giving Sunapee a 5-4 win.  The defense of AJ Ristino, Deveon Martin, Tage Colberg, and Caleb Calloway truly worked during the game and Eric Seltzer made some great saves while battling the fog of a head cold.  Even though Hanover lost, the game could have very easily gone in Hanover's favor.  This game could very well serve as a learning one for the rematch and other matches to come.

The Reserves will train on Tuesday and Wednesday, and all players will meet at the Computer Lab on Wednesday immediately after school for Concussion testing.