It's been quite a first week of school for the Marauder Freshmen. Eons ago on Monday they held off the Girl's Varsity in a scrimmage that was valuable in many respects, not the least of which was familiarizing them with the turf playing surface that they'd see twice later in the week. They opened with two grueling road wins on Wednesday and Friday, and dragged themselves out of bed on Saturday morning for their third match in four days.
Manchester Central looked formidable in warmups, but the Marauders jumped all over them, scoring twice in the first few minutes en route to a 9-0 victory. Hanover showed great ball control, deadly finishing, and strong team defense, leading 4-0 at halftime and subbing liberally throughout the contest.
The match was less than a minute old when Hanover was awarded a free kick on the left flank. Elias Zinman hit a long, high shot on goal, and the Central keeper pushed it off the crossbar, where it rebounded straight to Dillon Bradley, who buried the rebound at the right post. A minute later, Lefties Incorporated (Liam Collins and Andy Rightmire) collaborated for a 2-0 lead. Collins slid a pass to Rightmire, who blasted a long shot high into the net. Yikes.
The game settled down a bit, with the back four of Rightmire, Charlie Plottner, Alexander Purcell and Adam Blackburn denying Central space and possession. Midway through the half, Bradley chipped a ball into space for Bauti Gallino at the top of the penalty area, and Gallino finished like a pro for a 3-0 lead. The fourth goal of the half, with less than four minutes to play, was perhaps the nicest of the game. Nico Mayo-Pushee struck a perfectly-hit free kick from the left corner to the far post, and Eli Silovich headed it home with authority.
The Marauders picked up right where they left off at the start of the second half. After Dillon Bradley was fouled in the penalty area, Elias Zinman buried a penalty kick inside the left upright, and the rout was on. Three minutes later Adam Blackburn, a defender with the soul of a striker, found himself in the midst of a goalmouth scrum following a corner kick, and roofed the rebound for a 6-0 lead. Gallino potted his second goal of the match ten minutes later, and then Silovich earned his brace, converting a nice centering pass from Will Laycock on the left side. Nico Mayo-Pushee finished off the scoring with an authoritative blast for the right side.
Hans Williams calmly made four saves for Hanover to earn his second clean sheet of the season, getting nice defensive help from Tyler Wittman, Matt Fenner, Tommy Madden and Gary Li.
After a well-deserved break over the long weekend, the Freshmen will start the week preparing for two challenging games, road games at Concord on Thursday and at Exeter on Saturday. With the other three teams on the road on Tuesday, they'll have the Pasture all to themselves for training. Please take care of all of our new toys out there!
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