Freshmen Beat Exeter 1-0

 On a beautiful fall morning and with hundreds of people present—likely for the Farmers Market across the road, but who knows!—the Bears continued to show how far they've come as a team and played perhaps their best game of the season: a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Exeter Blue Hawks. In the 13th minute, Jojo looped the ball over defenders to Casper, who played a short pass across the six yard box to Ronan, who quickly struck the ball into the back of the net. For the next 67 minutes, Hanover dominated possession, created good chances, and couldn't find the back of the net; thankfully, a team-wide commitment to slowing down Exeter's counter attacks ensured Exeter never got the equalizer. (An apparent 88th minute goal from the Blue Hawks was a shock...until it was waved off by the referees due to an Exeter player in the offside position.) The biggest disappointment from the day was an injury to captain and center back Sam Bagatell, who was struck in the ankle by an Exeter striker (an unfortunately apt name). Indeed, that was the final play of the day, and we're grateful for it given the increasingly aggressive and dangerous attitude our opponents had adopted as time wound down and we maintained our lead.

In goal, Jackson and Carl combined for our second straight shutout. (Carl was in tip-top shape, one assumes, to impress his friend Sebastian who's visiting from overseas!) Sam B and Phin, per usual, played an excellent 80 minutes as the anchors of our defense, with Finn, Noah, and Gabe rotating on the wings. Gabe, at left back, really impressed today; he's worked hard to learn the position, especially how to position himself to win 50-50 balls and slow down opposing strikers. In the center of the midfield, the Jojo and Denis unit rotated in and out with the Roan and Ryan unit, and both units were dominant and dangerous. My oh my did we look good in the center of the field! On the wings, Nick, Micah, Sam J, Oliver B, Oliver J, and Peter A kept hustling forwards and backwards, challenging for 50-50 balls, and precisely moving the ball down the field. Up top, Ronan, Connor, Casper, Liam, and Jacobi had A LOT of good looks on goal and were repeatedly thwarted by a crafty Exeter keeper who knew exactly when to leave his line. We're expecting big things from our strikers—and our entire team—in the final week of the season!