Hanover continued to play its best soccer of the season at the right time, scoring three spectacular goals to defeat defeat archrival Lebanon and earn a spot in the Division II Finals Sunday against Bedford. Eric Jayne and Daniel Hazlett combined to form a potent strike force in the first half, each assisting on the other's superb scoring strike to give the Marauders an insurmountable lead. The Marauder defense stayed airtight throughout the entire match, earning the team's third straight shutout, and Jayne put the icing on the cake with his fifth goal in three playoff games and sixteenth of the season to cap a sweet, sweet win.
The Marauders will return to Southern New Hampshire University on Sunday to take on a dangerous Bedford squad which bumped off top-seeded Merrimack Valley 1-0 with a late goal int he other semifinal. Hanover beat Bedford 1-0 earlier this year at Merriman-Branch Field and gained a lot ff respect for the young, talented team.
The Hanover-Lebanon match promised to be a good one. The Raiders had handed Hanover their only loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat that broke the Marauders' 25 game winning streak (13 in a row to start the 2010 campaign), and had accounted for Hanover's only two loses since 2006. They knew the Marauders well, and had no fear of them. On the other hand, this was postseason.
Lebanon started brightly, and created the first good scoring chance when (surprise, surprise) a long throw sailed into the box and eluded Marauder attempts to clear it cleanly. The ball worked its way to the back post and Avery Hymel's chance to stuff it home was denied by Stefan Dyroff, who came off his line and made himself monstrous to snuff the shot. For the rest of the half, it was all Hanover.
Eric Jayne has been playing at another level in the postseason, and having recorded 17 shots and three goals in the first two games, he was up to his old tricks again, eventually aiming seven salvos in the first half alone. Most of the early ones were speculative, and one was downright ambitious, but it was again clear that he had come to play, and would defy containment. He also had a head ball cleared off the line by a good defensive play, but he would not be the one to score first. As has been the case all season, however, Jayne has added a new dimension to his game this year, and he added to his team-leading total of assists at the twenty-minute mark, setting up Daniel Hazlett for the first and only goal that the Marauders would need. Gaining the ball at midfield and finding room to turn, Jayne thumped a lead pass into space for Hazlett on the right flank. The flashy frosh raced into space to possess the ball, and so for a moment did Lebanon goalie Austin Mansell, thinking that he could get there first. Hazlett was racing to the corner and well outside the 18, but he got his head up and saw the horrified Mansell backpedaling into his goalmouth. It would take a perfect shot to beat him, and Hazlett produced nothing less, lofting a shot over the stranded keeper and under the crossbar and into the far side netting.
Being down a goal this early was a harsh blow for the defensive-minded Raiders, but 10 minutes later they sustained a fatal one. Hazlett took a pass down the left flank and located Jayne at the top of the 18 with plenty of room to run. Hanover's talismanic forward calmly skinned a defender moving to his right and found even more space to shoot, crushing a shot back inside the left post for a 2-0 lead. The Marauders knew what this meant. A 2-0 lead is supposedly the hardest one to defend, but to the Marauders it looked more like 20-0.
The Marauders wisely kept attacking, and would eventually outshoot Lebanon 8-4 in the half, with a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks. Jayne left his calling card early in the half, hitting a shot that was ticketed for the upper corner before Mansell made a sweet diving save to his left. In the meantime, Hanover was playing solid, effective teams defense, and never followed a small mistake at midfield with a bigger one in the back. Matt Barth and Robin Smith were brilliant in the air, and Joe Carey and Ben Harris were relentless in the center of the park.
Stefan Dyroff had several routine saves that he rendered harmless, and had his seminal moment on one of Lebanon's few long throws, ranging all the way to the top of the 18 to intercept one at the top of his leap. His third straight playoff shutout was well-earned.
The clock raced far too quickly for Lebanon, particularly as the half wound down and the Marauders went to the bench to bring fresh legs into the contest, getting excellent relief work from Roland Herrmann-Stanzell, Evan Greenwald, Ryan Brigham, Keegan Gantrish and Alex Dodds. Jayne, in the meantime, had one more message to send, working free on the right side of the Lebanon box in the final minute and bending a spectacular shot inside the left post for the final 3-0 margin of victory.
Hanover celebrated briefly, congratulated their gallant Raider rivals, and turned their collective thoughts toward Sunday's Championship match at Southern New Hampshire. "We'll have to be at our best to beat them," commented Coach Grabill. They played very well a month ago and it was all we could to to them in a close 1-0 game. I'd like to think that we have one more good game left in our systems before our season ends Sunday, one way or another. It's been a great ride, but we want to see if we can send out seniors out on a high note."
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