On Friday, we pulled into the Lebanon fields for our first away game. It felt like a true first day of fall with the cool air and gray clouds overhead. There was plenty of warm up time for the team to get going. This day was a tribute to the whole team and especially the defense. It was a day of simple hard work. The Lebanon team was bigger, strong, skilled, and fast. Hanover though held on in the first of many onslaughts with a back four made of veterans and new guys with Avery Wallis, Dan Wilson, Deveon Martin, Max Lutz, AJ Ristino, Matt Alibozek, Tage Colberg, and Caleb Calloway. They tracked flanking wingers, won tackles, ran down attackers, stepped through fifty-balls, made clearing headers and also started to make smart and dangerous passes to the wings and forwards.
The Man of the Match
would have to be goalkeeper Eric Seltzer. He truly kept Hanover in the game with
solid positioning, steady hands, diving saves and fearless charges off
the line. This would of been enough if weren't the penalty kick. Due
to the constant charges of Lebanon's front line a penalty eventually
happened in the box partway through the second half, and we thought the 0-0
tie was over. Eric guessed correctly, though, and dove to his left, meeting the ball in its trajectory, and creating a melee outside the goal
which we managed to clear.
The first half we started
on our heels, but managed to slowly get back in the game. Hanover
started putting pressure on goal and creating real chances in the later
part of the first half with Henry Bernard and Andrew Enelow up front.
In the second half the back and forth continued, and finally we managed
to get some real chances on net. A forward pass from the back managed
to go right past our forwards and their defenders alike. Sam Lutz and
Matthew Alibozek had ambitious takes that bounced off the crossbar and
post respectively. The break through came in the form of an assist from
Sam Lutz to Andrew Enelow, who in classic fashion weaved toward the front
past defenders and slipped the ball past the goalie. Hanover managed
to hang on for the remaining time and left with the win. If you looked at a stat sheet you would think Lebanon would have won the match. What decided this game was the defense, teamwork and the goalie that
allowed Hanover to stay in the game almost as if they were taking cues
from Iceland in the Euros.
On Saturday, the weather had changed considerably from the day before and the sun was
out as Hanover stepped on the turf. Souhegan was skilled and
well-coached. It was not a team we could take lightly. Hanover
soon started pressuring down the sidelines started to create some real
danger with Gabe Loud, Tenzing Rumrill, and Ian Surat-Mosher. This
eventually yielded results when Ian collected a ball and gave Tenzing an
assist down toward the right side of the goal. Tenzing stayed with ball and
once within the eighteen placed a low shot with enough pace so the
keeper couldn't hold onto the ball.
The game continued and
Hanover seemed to have the upper hand. Souhegan made some real threats,
with some shots that just went wide of the goal. The second goal was
created by Gabe Loud, who continued his run of goals from unconventional
angles and distances. This was a truly a heads up play. The goalie for
Souhegan was playing very far off the line, and Gabe noticed he was
once again off his line when won a fifty-fifty ball near midfield. He
looked up, simply thought "why not?", and lobbed a ball from around 45
yards out as we watched the ball go over the goalie and bounce into the
back of the net.
The second half told a different story.
Souhegan came out firing on all cylinders and caught the crew a little
flat. It sometimes happens in soccer when balls and passes don't bounce
your way you simply have to grind it out, and that's what Hanover did
this half. There was one breakdown where Souhegan managed to get behind
the Hanover defenses and put one in. Hanover didn't fold, even
though they may have felt the week catching up with them. They stuck in
there and even created a few more chances on goal. This game also
showed some growing strength in their defensive skill with some solid
stops by Azor Goodwin and Liam Abbate as well. Andrew Enelow once again
played a very solid game in goal allowing only a point from an open
shot taken within 10 yards of the net.
The Reserves play three games this week. The Young Guys travel to Fall Mountain on Tuesday. A new addition to the schedule has the Old Guys hosting the Oliverian School on Thursday at Dresden at 4:30. The Young Guys end the week with a road trip to Sunapee on Saturday.
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