Freshmen Beat Keene 5-0

The freshman team rebounded from a disappointing loss on Wednesday to defeat a depleted Keene team, 5-0, on a lovely fall afternoon at Dresden.

At the 10-minute mark in the game, we went up a goal when Nicolas D. poked home a loose ball after a scramble in the penalty area. We had several other golden opportunities to add to our lead in the first half, but our attacking players could not find the right combination of passes and shots on goal to find the back of the net. Meanwhile, Keene was unable to create any chances at the other end of the field, and the half ended with Hanover up 1-0.

The second half was a very different story. Keene ran out of gas (and apparently interest in the outcome), while we turned up the intensity and had chance after chance on goal. Goals from Sam B (his second of the game), Ronan, and Connor added to our total, but the best of the day came midway through the half when Denis headed home a Ronan corner kick from close range.

In the 71st minute, an inadvertent handball by one of our defenders led to a penalty kick for Keene. But their forward left his shot in the center of the goal, and Jackson handled it easily. He was clever to stay put rather than anticipating the shot by diving to one side or the other.

By the end of the game, Keene was in total disarray and had almost stopped defending. I felt for their weary coach when we shook hands; he just shrugged and said, "I don't know what to do with this group."

Hanover now has a long weekend to rest up for the last part of the season. We travel to Dover on Tuesday afternoon and then host Exeter on Saturday morning.  

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