The Marauders solidified their hold on second place with their fifth win in a row on Saturday, beating Pinkerton 4-2 in a rematch of last season's semifinals. Asa Berolzheimer led the way for Hanover, setting up two first half goals and then scoring twice in the second half.
The Astros entered the morning match with a deceptive .500 record, and started out strongly, getting on the board eight minutes into the match when Ashim Gurvne found a lot of time and space inside the penalty area and knocked a high shot into the upper right corner for a 1-0 lead. Hanover remained calm, and patiently began exerting pressure, earning themselves six corner kicks and a number of free kicks. They tied the match in the 18th minute on a restart from 35 yards out. Berolzheimer hit a long serve from right to left, and Jake Acker met the ball at the far post and headed it home for his second goal in the past three games. Ten minutes later, the Marauders took a 2-1 lead when Pinkerton conceded one corner too many, and Berolzheimer found Seth Stadheim for a far post header. It was the second time in as many games that this warmup duo had connected in this manner.
Pinkerton refused to go away, however. The Astros continued to challenge Hanover on the counterattack, and ended up outshooting them in the first half. With less than two minutes remaining in the half, Pinkerton winger Bennett Brendan Meagher eluded two tackles on the right flank and centered the ball to Colin Coutts, who tied the match at 2-2 with a sharp shot that changed direction on its way to the goal.
If Hanover was bothered by coughing up the lead before the end of the half, they didn't show it. A mere 22 seconds after the interval, Sam Strohbehn's pass found Berolzheimer deep in the Pinkerton box, and Berolzheimer went further baseline to find an opening and his shot put Hanover up for good, 3-2. Hanover had no intention of sitting on the lead, and soon took almost complete control of what had been an even match. Two minutes after Berolzheimer's goal, Jamie Dinulos hit a great shot on goal that was denied by Pinkerton goalie Hayden Pavao. Tim Alibozek had several good-looking shots on goal. Berolzheimer came close on a free kick from outside the penalty area. Ian Caldwell nearly connected on another corner kick.
Pinkerton wasn't completely out of the game, and managed two shots that challenged Marauder goalkeeper Connor Edson, who was equal to the task. The Marauder defensive effort was also greatly enabled by the return of Jonah Levine to his holding midfielder role after he had missed several games with an injury. The Marauder defense in the entire second half was confident and calm.
After Jake Acker narrowly missed scoring his second goal of the day with 12 minutes remaining when Pavao made a great save on his shot headed for the upper 90, Berolzheimer broke through with his second goal of the match. Tom Alibozek did some great work to win the ball on the right flank and got to the baseline before hitting a low, hard cross that found a streaking Berolzheimer at the top of the box. The goal was the tenth of the season for the Marauder Captain, who has 14 assists.
The Marauders are now 9-2-1 with four games remaining in the regular season, every one of them presenting a unique challenge. On Tuesday, Hanover travels to Winnacunnet to play the first of two road games on grass. They'll train Monday at 3:30 at the pasture to prepare, and be ready to take one step at a time, never looking to far ahead.
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