Varsity Win Over Laconia Solidifies Hold on First Place

The Marauders celebrated their arrival in first place in the NHIAA standings with a decisive 5-2 win against Laconia Wednesday. While both Lebanon and St. Thomas were losing, Hanover scored four times in the first 23 minutes of the match to put a stranglehold on their lofty perch. Eric Jayne led the attack, scoring the first two goals of the game in less than 13 minutes, his 14th and 15th of the season. The sharpshooting junior has now scored ten times in the Marauders' six-game winning streak. Amazingly, in five of those games he has scored within the first nine minutes.

Hanover's win was hardly a one-man show, however. The Marauders dominated the match with an impressive display of team play on both offense and defense. Their spacing and awareness allowed them to hold the ball for long stretches and probe carefully on offense, and when they lost the ball they pressured efficiently, won the ball back with aggressive tackling, and quickly made the transition back to offense, changing the point of attack and varying their target men. Jayne and Ben Harris were the quarterbacks, creating space with their runs and utilizing the support of all eight midfielders and defenders.

Nor surprisingly, it was left back Nate Hanna that triggered the first goal, serving a long ball over the top of the Laconia defense that found Jayne on the end of an angled run into the box. Jayne controlled the ball, held off a defender, and pulled Laconia keeper Garrett Beck out of the net. His right-to-left run gave him only a narrow window of opportunity past the left post, but his well-struck left-footed shot found side netting and gave the Marauders a 1-0 lead. The assist was Hanna's ninth of the season, an all-time record for Hanover defenders, and putting him in close proximity with some of the best all-time Marauder setup men.

Jayne was back at it three minutes later, bumping the lead to 2-0 after Trey Rebman crossed the ball from the left side to right midfielder Sean Gemunden, who laid the ball back to Jayne for an easy conversion. Ben Harris then narrowly missed the most spectacular goal of the season, launching a left-footed rocket from the port side that was clearly aimed at the upper ninety. Beck managed to get a hand on the ball before it tucked under the crossbar, but a few minutes later he was victimized by Harris and Dan Remillard. The former got his head on the ball in traffic and popped it goalward, and before Beck could gather it in Remillard slithered in from the side and poked it over his head and into the net. Filthy, absolutely filthy. As a wave of substitutes frantically warmed up in the unseasonable October chill, Hayden Pressey-Murray continued the assault, tapping home the rebound of Jayne's hat trick bid for his second goal of the season. With less than 23 minutes elapsed, the score was 4-0 and the match was over.

With eight substitutes on the field Hanover continued to dominate the play. Laconia's only chances came from long distance, and in one case incredibly long distance. Sachem striker Will Salta, the author of Laconia's only three shots on goal, tok aim in one instance from 60 yards out and hit a free kick that actually forced Marauder goalkeeper Same Gest to make a creditable save. Salta would be heard from during second half garbage time.

The Marauders made a bit less noise in the second half, but managed to up the lead to 5-0 ten minutes into the second half when Aaron Segura tallied his first Hanover goal, driving home a nice feed from the relentless Jonathan Fenton. Shortly thereafter, the Marauders went 25 deep on their roster, and nevertheless maintained an amazingly high level of play. Chris Tecca and Robin Smith were stalwarts in the back, and Tecca got forward for a dangerous header on goal. Connor Bentovoglio and Charlie Umland looked confident at outside back, and were technically sound. Adam Kline-Schoder and Sam Farnham played great position on the flanks, and continued Hanover's efficient passing game. Brendan Barth not only added his great sense of field vision as a playmaker, but also collected his milestone first foul. Pedro Celaya demonstrated excellent judgment in varying his strong one-on-one moves and his combination play.

With 18 minutes left in the match the Marauders were penalized when Sam Gest was called for being six inches out of the box on the follow through of a punt. Technically, it's possible to make that call. Naturally, the talented Salta took the ensuing free kick and ripped a bending shot into the far upper corner. Kudos to Salta for a great shot and for Sam Gest and all of teammates and coaches for laughing it off. Six minutes later the voracious Salta was at it again, taking a lead pass and roaring through the defense to tuck home a partial breakaway for the final 5-2 score. No worries. The game had been decided well beforehand. Hanover continued to play with skill and maturity, and put a bow on the win that gave them a record of 10-1-1.

The Marauders had started the game with the knowledge that the latest Heal Point standings had them in first place in Class I, nearly five points ahead of St. Thomas and an amazing 27 in front of third-place Lebanon. After the game came word of Coe-Brown's 1-0 win over St. Thomas and Lebanon's 2-0 defteat at the hands of Kearsarge. There are still a number of games to be played, but barring a total collapse the Marauders will have the opportunity to remain in first place through the playoffs, with all of the seeding benefits thereunto appertaining.

"For now, we have to concentrate on taking the opportunities we have to keep improving," commented Coach Grabill. "Our consistency and willingness to learn has put us in a good position. However, we are well aware of our weaknesses, and will be striving to get better in the weeks to come. We love playing in this type of weather," he concluded, steam rising from his thinning grey mane into the night air. This is our time of year."