Marauder Win Streak at Five With 3-1 Win Over Bow

The Hanover boys closed out the regular season home schedule with a convincing 3-1 victory against a capable Bow team on Saturday, extending their wining streak to five games and solidifying their hold on second place in the NHIAA Class I standings with a mark of 9-1-1.
Eric Jayne continued his hot streak with two goals, and Senior Jonathan Fenton iced the game with a textbook goal, the first of his career.

Twice in the past four years, Bow and Hanover have met in the Class I Finals, and did so as recently as 2007. The Falcons dripped out of title contention last year, but come into town Saturday with an 8-4 record and a chip on their collective shoulders. Eric Jayne got the match off to a proper start inside the six-minute mark, taking a pass from Aaron Segura and waltzing through the Bow defense before tucking the ball past Carter Bennett for a 1-0 lead. Bow had barely ventured into the Hanover end of the field, but ten minutes into the match heir earned their only corner kick of the half. Ed Berke drove a low ball that eluded the Marauder defense and found Greg Roemer unmarked at the back post, where he shoveled the ball past Sam Gest to tie the score at 1-1.

Hanover reasserted control for the balance of the half, but were unable to regain the lead despite decent scoring bids from Joe Carey, Segura and Ben Harris. The best offensive thrust of the half came from Isaiah Fariel, who took a feed from Forrest Pratt and streaked past a defender on the right touchline, hitting a perfect cross (low, hard and early) that nearly connected with Jonathan Fenton, only to be swallowed up by Bennett in the Bow goal.

Bow rarely re-appeared in their attacking half of the park, although they created one scramble in front of the goal that requited Gunnar Shaw to peel the ball off of his goal line to maintain the scoreline.

Hanover did an outstanding job after the interval managing their frustration at both not scoring and the puerile commentary coming from the Bow bench. Happily, their scoring frustration ended at the exact moment that he Bow bench fell suddenly silent, seven minutes into the second half. Capitalizing on a recent tendency to keep the ball on the rug in the attacking third, Nate Hanna slotted the ball to Jayne and watched in admiration as he re-created his first half goal, weaving through the Bow defenders like a homeward commuter spotting an open subway seat during rush hour and giving Hanover the lead for good with his 13th goal of the season. The assist was Hanna's seventh, and sixth in the past five games.

The host team was required to play very little defense in their end, preferring to blunt any Bow attacks at midfield. On the Falcons' sole second half corner kick, Hanover made them look silly. Trying the sort of short corner kick that Harris and Jayne occasionally employ with some good effect, the two strikers were challenged quickly by an alert Matt Barth, while at the same time both Marauder defenders guarding the goal posts stepped quickly. When the recipient of the initial pass tried to dump the ball to his buddy on the baseline, the play was instantly called offsides. The utterance of displeasure from Bow Coach George Pinkham directed at his players verified that Hanover had tactically embarrassed their visitors. Neatly done.

The Marauders appeared very willing to push hard for a third goal, effectively smothering any Bow comeback attempts in the process. Aaron Segura pressed the attack like a man with a lot of visiting relatives in the audience. Gunnar Shaw just missed heading home his fourth goal of the season on a Jayne corner kick. With six minutes to play, Fenton iced the game with his first career goal, and it was a memorable one. Matt Barth played the ball to Forrest Pratt on the right flank at midfield, and Pratt slotted a perfect ball to Fenton, racing into the Bow penalty box. The hard-working senior completely undressed the Bow sweeper and almost simultaneously ripped a left-footer that rocketed into the side netting just inside the far post.

The Marauders now head to the road for the remaining three games of the regular season, beginning almost immediately with a Tuesday road trip to Robbie Mills Field for a rematch with Laconia. Kickoff will be at 6:30, immediately following the JV game, slated to start at 4:30. Bus departure Tuesday will be at 1:45.