Marauders Snap Lebanon Streak With a 4-2 Win

Hanover played its best soccer of the season on Wednesday, taking complete control of their match with unbeaten Lebanon with three goals in the first 27 minutes, and dumping the 8-0 Raiders from the ranks of the undefeated with a resounding 4-2 victory in front of a large crowd at Merriman-Branch Field. In avenging their only loss of the season, the Marauders continued to click offensively, receiving a hat trick from junior Eric Jayne and a devastating header by Captain Dan Remillard. With 19 goals in their last five games, Hanover has shed its early-season scoring woes.

Lebanon entered the game with impressive credentials, having allowed only one goal in eight games. They were the only unbeaten and untied team in Class I, and their overtime win over the Marauders last week placed them firmly on top of the division pecking order. Hanover was respectful of the quality of the opposition, but showed early in the contest that they were prepared to shake up the standings. After a typically unsettled opening five minutes, Jayne put his mark on the game with a big-time goal, settling a long cross from Nate Hanna and turning on a dime just outside the 18, finding just enough space to launch a left-footed laser past a sprawling Jimmy Kane in the Lebanon net for a crucial 1-0 lead.

The Marauders continue to attack confidently, and had the Lebanon attack completely bottled up, thanks to the strong fullback play of Hanna, Remillard, Gunnar Shaw and Matt Barth, who had his best game of the season. Midway through the half, Hanover doubled the lead,taking advantage of a Raider miscue. Sean Gemunden hit a long cross from the right side that sailed through the hands of Kane, and Jayne was in the right place at the right time to bundle it into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Seven minutes later the Marauders made Lebanon pay for a silly foul well outside the penalty area. Hanna launched one of his patented driven free kicks, and Remillard made hours of patient practice pay off with a far post header that emphatically upped the advantage to 3-0.

To their credit, Lebanon continued to battle, and pulled a goal back less than three minutes later when Cooper Hardy's free kick sailed into a crowd in the Marauder penalty area and found its way past a diving Sam Gest. Unfazed, Hanover reasserted the dominance that resulted in a first-half shot total of 10-1, with Ben Harris and Joe Carey launching hard shots that Kane managed to stop.

The Marauders knew that the first few minutes after halftime would be critical, but after less than five minutes it was Jayne who would again stake his claim as Man of the Match, taking a lead pass from Gemunden and threading past two flailing Lebanon defenders before burying his third goal of the game for a 4-1 lead. It was the first three-goal game for a Hanover player since Yosef Osheyack turned the trick against a pathetic Con-Val side in 2007. To do the deed against such a highly-rated opponent only adds to the luster of the accomplishment. With ten goals on the season, Jayne is on target to challenge the likes of current Bentley University scoring ace Jimmy Alexander, who notched 20 goals in 2005 en route to pacing the Marauders to the first of their four straight Class I titles.

Once again Lebanon reminded the home team that they are every bit as good as their record, striking back five minutes later when Avery Hymel found room in the penalty area and hit a shot to Sam Gest's left that the senior netminder slowed with an acrobatic dive but couldn't keep from trickling over the line. Once again, the Marauders showed their collective resilience by dictating the pace for the remaining thirty minutes of the game. A steady stream of Hanover attackers made their way into the Lebanon end of the pitch, and only bad luck and Key's stellar goalkeeping kept the score the same. Kane robbed Nate Hanna with a sensational dive to his left on a scorcher from the left flank. He also thwarted Aaron Segura on a well-taken free kick, and lucked out when Isaiah Fariel hit a sitter high and right from close range. Hayden Pressey-Murray came close to duplicating the header that he had hit against Bishop Brady 24 hours earlier.

Lebanon managed a few long-range shots that were gobbled up by Gest, but the confident clearing by Shaw, Remillard, Hanna and Barth made any thoughts of a comeback by Lebanon academic. Hanover got good relief performances by midefielders Forrest Pratt and Trey Rebman, and closed the books on a win that boosted their unbeaten streak to three and their record to 7-1-1. Already sitting second in the Class I Heal Point standings prior to the match, the
Marauders reaped a point bonanza with the win, and should remain firmly camped in sewcond place behind St. Thomas, the sole remaining unbeaten team in the division.

Hanover will be off until next Tuesday when they host an improved Kearsarge team that has seven wins already and losses only to the Marauders and to Lebanon. Following that, they will entertain Bow at 5:00 on Homecoming Saturday, another team well established in the top five with a 7-2 record. Success in these contests will go a long way toward ensuring the coveted quarterfinal home game that means everything to the Marauders.

"May hat is off to every member of this team," commented Coach Grabill after the match. "They never let last week's loss weigh on them, and have continued to improve with every game. This result belongs to all of them. They have worked very hard in practice and demonstrated incredible dedication toward our long-range goals. Now it's October, and it's time to take our game to another level. We are going to be a very hard to team to beat from now on."