Hanover's two -week layoff gave the Marauders an opportunity to improve in a number of areas, and Thursday's match with Salem gave the 2.0 version a chance to strut their stuff. They didn't disappoint, beating Salem 4-0 at Merriman-Branch field. The Marauders dominated the match, outshooting the Blue Devils 25-4 and shutting then down defensively.
Hanover took a while to get going, wading through a choppy first ten minutes. Before long, though, the Marauders set their sights on the Salem goal. Jamie Dinulos got the scoring started at the 13:49 mark, taking an excellent lead pass from Sam Strohbehn and finishing crisply for his 4th goal of the campaign. The Marauders continued to click, with Diunulos and Tim Alibozek creating a number of opportunities up top, and Jake Acker and Jonah Leving launching excellent longer-range offerings.
Seth Stadheim, Luke Messersmith, Hanry Kahl and Marcus Helble came off the bench after twenty minutes, and continued to keep the pressure on the Salem defense. Stadheim narrowly missed on a close-range shot, and in the 30th minute, Messersmith was hauled down in the box and Hanover was awarded a penalty kick. Asa Berolzheimer converted the spot kick for his seventh goal of the season. He has now scored in every one of the Marauders' matches.
Four minutes later, with the starters back in the lineup, Hanover's hard work on short corner kicks paid off, with Jamie Dinulos finding room behind a defender on the baseline and feeding a short pass to center back Ian Caldwell, who buried his first goal of the season for a back-breaking lead.
Hanover has a history of strong second halves, and the Marauders wasted no time in the second half keeping Salem back on their heels. Tim Alibozek tallied his first goal of the season with a great individual effort four minutes after the interval, working past two defenders on the left side and then beating a third back at close range, finding room to roof a shot over Blue Devil goalkeeper.
Salem had been held to zero shots in the first half, but to their credit they continued to work hard in the second half, and created some decent if infrequent opportunities. Connor Edson was equal to the task, coming off his line decisively several times to beat Salem attackers to the ball, and handling a few long-range shots to earn his second shutout of the season.
As substitutes began to work their way into the lineup, the quality of play remained high. Henry Kahl had two great shots, blasting the ball off of Salem keeper Drew Hailey's face, and a minute later hitting a long shot off of the left upright. So close! Robbie Murdza continued to challenge opposing defenders, and Dan Healy came very close to scoring on several occasions. One of these came when Griffin Johnson's long-range throw-in seeped through the box, just missing connections with both Healy and Asa Berolzheimer, who also cooked up a few long-range shots that just missed.
The Marauders won't have much time to savor their victory. They'll practice on the turf on Friday, and then buckle up for a Saturday trip to unbeaten Bedford. The Bulldogs are undefeated, and have allowed only two goals in seven matches, amassing a 6-0-1 record. The only blemish on their slate thus far was a 2-2 draw with defending champ Pinkerton, who erased Bedford's 2-0 lead in the last 20 minutes. Bedford is young and highly talented, with three freshmen in the starting lineup. The Marauders have a great history of tight matches with the Bulldogs, and Saturday's match will have a playoff feel. Kickoff will be at 3:00 on the BHS turf field.
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