Hanover and Hartford Draw 1-1 in Overtime

The resumption of the Hanover-Hartford soccer derby Tuesday evening lived up to high expectations, producing 100 minutes of scintillating soccer before the sides settled for a 1-1 draw. The Marauders pounded the Hurricane goal all evening, but a spectacular performance by Hurricane goalkeeper Ben Pfister and a series of agonizing near misses produced a result that was at the same time gratifying for the quality of play and frustrating for the inability to finish a score of well-crafted opportunities.

Hanover jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the thirteenth minute on Eric Jayne's third goal of the campaign, assisted nicely by Sean Gemunden and Nate Hanna. The latter served the ball into the Hartford box where Gemunden controlled it and fed Jayne, who deftly chipped Pfister. The Marauders established a significant territorial edge as the half wore on, and Pfister made several strong saves, corralling the ball at Isaiah Fariel's feet on a near-breakaway. Joe Carey just missed on a header from a well-made cross authored by Hayden Pressey-Murray.

Although they were being outshot and outplayed at midfield, thanks to the efforts of Carey and Aaron Segura, Hartford showed the hallmark of a well-coached team and were able to hang around, waiting for chances that they knew would come eventually. Aside from a long free kick easily handled by Sam Gest in the Hanover goal, the only dangerous chance came when a through ball deflected to Dillon Sass and sent him in free on the left side of the penalty area. The
savvy Hurricane midfielder ripped a shot past the far post, and the half ended with Hanover on top 1-0 and eager for more.

The Marauders opened the second half confidently, and their edge in play gave them every reason to feel that a second goal was a foregone conclusion. However, eleven minutes into the half Hartford tied the game on a well-taken goal against the run of play. The Marauders were unable to clear a ball in their left corner, and Luke Mayer hit a well-struck cross to Ioannis Panaglondis. whose header from eight yard out beat Gest to tie the match.

Hanover renewed their attack, and as the half wore on completely dominated the play, outshooting Hartford 13-2 and creating a number of challenging chances. Pfister was equal to the task, with several spectacular saves. He leapt full-out to palm a Dan Remillard drive just over the bar, and deflected a withering drive by Aaron Segura that was labelled. Both Jayne and Ben Harris had a number of good shooting opportunities, and the Marauders remained both patient and confident as the half ended and overtime loomed.

If Francis Scott Key had been watching the overtime, he would have composed an anthem praising the withering effectiveness of the Hanover attack. It was like watching the end of the Independence Day fireworks at Killowatt Park in Wilder (doubly appropriate analogy, given that this venue is also where the Hartford lads learned to play as wee lads under Coach Steve Sass), with the loudest and most prolonged pyrotechnics coming at the end. The Marauders launched eight telling shots in the 20 minutes of extra time, but came away empty.

The two nicest chances of the first overtime were a header by Gunnar Shaw that just missed connections, and a blazing shot that Ben Harris that faded just wide of the right post after the junior striker had just worked free for the opportunity with some deft footwork in the box. Hartford's counterattacks all followed the same script, ending with a striker on the ground, arms raised heavenwards in Rimmeresque supplication, and Shaw or Remmilard motoring away with the ball. The referees weren't buying the act.

The second overtime followed suit, as Hanover refused to panic, and carefully moved the ball around to open up the Hartford defense enough to put together four more sterling scoring bids.
Forrest Pratt made a great run into the heart of the defense, but ran into center back David Devost before he could dish to a lurking Jayne over his right shoulder. Jayne had the final two shots, and they were emblematic of the evening, spectacular in nature and just a hair off target. He found himself on the end of a Nate Hanna cross at the far post, and his header back across the goal went just wide of the far upright. Finally, he ripped a shot from the left flank that was well outside the 18 but only inches over the far upper corner.

The final shot totals of 29-4 and corner kick tally of 5-1 shows why the Marauders could be justified in feeling frustrated. On the other hand, the quality of their play was so strong that they have great cause for optimism going forward. Perhaps just as importantly, the excellence of the match itself was reason for celebration. It's not always easy for neighboring squads to produce nothing short of excellence, and that's what occurred. The players on these two sides go back a long way, and the game was contested passionately. It was, however played with great respect for the integrity of the game, meeting the highest levels of sportsmanship a fair play. That takes two sides to do, and also a set of officials who are able to keep control while "letting the boys play". All three entities combined to create a match with high entertainment value, and the prevailing sentiment at the end of he match was "let's do this again". It was a great night for soccer in the Upper Valley, which produced a contest which could not be matched anywhere else in Northern New England. Not a bad legacy for a weeknight match early in the season.

The Marauders are right back in action on Thursday night, hosting Laconia at 6:30 at Merriman-Branch Field.