The Hanover Soccer Season is Underway!

 Welcome to the 2022 Hanover Soccer Blog!    Apologies for the late start to those who have followed in past years.  Welcome to new blog followers, particularly parents and players in the 2022 program.  They know that we have a spiffy new player data base that allows for much-improved communication and roster  management.  And in the first few weeks of the season I have used this for writing bloggy posts to all players, coaches and parents.  But that has excluded a lot of alumni, alumni parents and community members who like to keep track of Hanover Soccer.  So I will continue to send regular targeted emails, and always want players and parents to check email daily.  But I will not be also posting very regularly in the blog, particularly to publish game reports for all four of our teams, and waxing philosophically.   There will be overlaps, but email users won't be sorry to bookmark the blog and stay tuned.

We are three weeks into the season, which began on August 15th and gave us the time and space before the start of school to create four distinct teams for the 90 players who signed up for soccer.  Thanks to the hard work of the players, the care and expertise of our eight-person coaching staff, and the support of our parents, we have four teams that have already established distinct identities, ready to dive into the fall season.  This past week, we made a smooth transition into the start of the school schedule, underscoring our core philosophy that Hanover Bear Soccer is a co-curricular activity.

Three of our four teams have already played one game already, and the fourth kick off next week. The Varsity lost a tough home game 1-0 on Monday to Nashua North, and the JV1 rallied to beat North 4-3 behind a brace by Aidan Bradley.  (By the way, we are going to assume that blog followers will understand basic futbol lingo, or learn quickly).  The Freshman team beat an unprepared Concord team 9-0.  All three teams are in action Friday and Saturday before the Labor Day Weekend respite.  Varsity and JV1 head to Bedford on Friday for challenging games.  The Bear Cubs travel to Manchester Memorial on Saturday for their first road action.

Bedford will be a real challenge for the Varsity. Perfunctory research suggests that Hanover has rarely won at Bedford,  Back in 2007, a Hanover D2 juggernaut beat a young Bedford team in the first year of existence for the program.  It's possible there has not been another Hanover win.  On the other hand, Hanover has a three-year winning streak over Bedford.  In 2019 the then-Marauders beat Bedford in the D1 title game on penalties.  (Penalties give, and penalties take away).  In the shortened COVID 2020 season,  Hanover earned a dramatic 1-0 win in the NHIAA D1 Quarterfinals.  Last year, Hanover beat a young Bedford team 2-0 at Megriman-Branch Field.  Friday, for the first time in three years, the Bears head to Bulldog Stadium.  Bedford in back to their normal strength under veteran Coach Stu Pepper.  They beat Manchester Central 2-1 in last week's Friday night opener, and then lost 4-2 to presumptive top seed Manchester Memorial.  Now they are eager to continue their home dominance against a Hanover team that  turned in a subpar performance in last Monday's sun-scorched 1-0 loss to Nashua North.

Stay tuned for reports tomorrow on all three weekend games, and some rambling discourses on the program, now proudly parading the Bear brand. Spread the word to your friends that the blog is back!

- Coach Grabill


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