Bears Beat Londonderry 4-2 For Fifth in a Row

The Varsity Bears took another big step toward good playoff positioning, beating a scrappy Londonderry team 4-2 for their fifth win in a row. Now 8-4, Hanover is solidly in the top half of the D1 standings, and an increasingly good bet to host a first-round playoff game.  Jack Gardner led the way for the Bears, scoring two goals and setting up an important insurance tally that iced the game.  Hanover’s defense played with increased confidence, fronted by a midfield troika that controlled the game for long stretches.

 

Road games are a challenge in Division One, although conditions were close to ideal at Londonderry’s lush grassy pitch. Too grassy by a tad, actually.  But the sun was warm, the bathrooms were a good deal closer than at HHS, and the lingering impacts of Movie Night weren’t too onerous.  Once the game started, Hanover assumed control began probing the Londonderry defense.  The first shot didn’t come until the 8^th minute, when Carter Guerin curled in from the left and launched an asteroid-killer high over the bar.  Only seconds later, though, the Bears took the lead.  Center back Alex McGrath, who would later be recognized as the Man of the Match, stepped perfectly and won a ball well shy of midfield, and laced a perfect through ball to Jack Gardner, breaking into the Londonderry zone.  Gardner shrugged off Lancer center back Spencer Brassard and drilled a cold-hearted finish into the corner for a 1-0 lead.

 

Shortly afterwards, Londonderry served notice that they would not be pushovers.  The Lancers broke quickly out of their own end on a counter attack, and two swift passes created a two on one break that gave striker Justin Dion an open shot which he drilled into the net.  The only problem is that he had been a tiny bit offside, and the goal was waved off.  It was an ironic let-off, since he may not have been off, and actually Jack Gardner may have been. Game of inches.

 

The Bears kept pushing for a second score, and once again the elapsed time between Andrew McGuire’s entry into the game and his impact on the scoreline was miniscule.  It keeps happening.  The Microwave (cuz he heats up quickly) collected a ball on the right flank, rolled onto the middle like a ginger Messi, and ripped a left-footed drive that cleared the cobwebs out of the upper left corner.  It was a perfect shot, and midway through the half the Bears were in control with a 2-0 lead. 

 

Eight minutes later, Hanover hiked the lead to 3-0, thanks to a pair of senior line leaders.  Becket McCurdy and Jack Gardner had been enjoying a brief respite on the bench, but shortly after they re-entered, the ball was in the back of the net. McCurdy won the ball outside the Londonderry box and broke in, throwing a sly little shoulder fake before laying the ball to his right for Gardner, who made a challenging shot look easy, collecting his eighth goal of the season to tie McGuire for the team lead.  It was McCurdy’s second assist in two games.

 

Once again, Londonderry registered their intention to stick around.  With less than four minutes to play in the half, another Lancer counterattack gave Jackson Lewis the opportunity to penetrate Hanover’s penalty area way too easily, and he found the room and time to rip a shot that clanged off the left upright and in, cutting the lead to 3-1. Londonderry was right back on the front foot, and less than two minutes after the interval, they had sliced the lead to one.  Two goals withing five minutes, albeit separated by halftime. Tall, talented striker Cristian Levantewski-Correa threaded a nice pass to Justin Dion, he of the perhaps tough offside call, and it was 3-2, with momentum in the balance.

 

Happily, Hanover was equal to the challenge of not just preserving their now-slim lead over a charged-up Londonderry squad, but doing so by taking the attack to their hosts.  Jack Gardner didn’t wait long, finding an opportunity to crank a hard, low shot for the left side and was a foot or two wide of the near post.  It didn’t alter the score, but it lifted Hanover’s spirits.  Gardner was back at it again at the 55 minute mark, taking a nice feed from Carter Guerin and hitting a close range shot that was miraculously saved by Londonderry keeper Ethan Munro. McCurdy got his head on the ensuing corner kick.  He and McGrath are just getting fine-tuned for a big header when it counts the most.

 

Londonderry didn’t have many chances, but they engineered a few close calls. At the 60-minute mark, Ty Nolon raced off his line to his left, smothering the ball at the feet of Levantewski-Correa, whose longer nickname is “The kid who broke Ty’s arm last summer”.  Ten minutes after that, TKWBTALS was back in the box, driving to his right but being pushed there was good Hanover defense until all he had left for shooting space was an acute angle.  He ripped a shot 18 inches shy of the baseline, but Nolon was there to confidently snag it.  

 

Hanover had a consistently good defensive half.  Alex McGrath and Owen Smith in the middle, Jack McGrath and Noah Winchester on the flanks, and Sam Ames with a valuable cameo, all effective.  The triangle of D (McCurdy, Ryder Hayes and Zach Tracy) won a lot of midfield battles, and helped feed a lurking Hanover attack.  And finally, with time winding down, the Bears put the game away.  Another great lead pass put Gardner in along on a counterattack, and after he found a good shooting spot he squared the ball to Tracy, who had made a great run to get into position.  Tracy took his sweet time and buried the ball for his fifth goal of the season, and Hanover had a result to celebrate.

 

The Bears face a challenging two-game set next week after a well-deserved weekend resting  and watching hockey movies (insert Herb Brooks quote). Then they play twice in three days, starting with a trap game at Salem, followed by a Really Big Challenge, taking on perennial rival Manchester Central at 6:30 in venerable Gill Stadium. Game at a time, though.  Focus on surviving a long road trip and a challenging pitch, survive, and advance.