HANOVER TOPS PLYMOUTH 5-0; STILL UNBEATEN
The Hanover varsity booters defeated Plymouth 5-0 on Thursday to stretch their unbeaten skein to eight, and in doing so recorded their eighth straight shutout. There are more than 160 high school teams in New Hampshire, and only one of them has yet to allow a goal.
Yosef Osheyack scored twice to take the team lead in the goal scoring department, and Ben Rimmer added two assists to top the table in that department. Eric Barthold added his fifth goal of the campaign, and the Marauders also got sweet scores from Paul Burchard and Kevin Dade.
Coach Grabill shuffled the starting lineup, and four players recorded their first varsity starts, including seniors Paul Buchard and Erik Barth, junior striker Kevin Dade, and sophomore goalkeeper Sam Gest. The Marauders got off to a solid start, establishing a large territorial advantage, but they were looking for a spark when five familiar faces entered the game twenty minutes into the half. Five minutes later, Hanover had a 1-0 lead, and was off and running. Casey Maue was the creator of the first goal, working feverishly in the box to win the ball, hold it, and spin past two Plymouth defenders before spotting Osheyack at the far post for an easy tap-in. Less than a minute remained in the half when Barthold’s goal doubled the lead, killing any hope that Plymouth might have harbored.
Osheyack’s second score of the afternoon came six minutes after play resumed when he
Converted the sweetest assist of the day, a long cross from a speeding Ben Rimmer on the right flank. Ten minutes later, Kevin Dade notched his first career goal, heading home a corner kick from Lou Gemunden, who collected his fourth assist of the season. The last goal of the day was a show-stopping crowd=pleaser, a long-distance drive from Paul Burchard that picked the upper left corner of the Plymouth goal. It was his second upper ninety drive of the season.
All throughout the second half Grabill kept looking further and further down his bench for new faces to get into the game, and by the time the match was over 24 different players had entered, with Peter Young and Joe Carey, on loan from the JV, seeing their first varsity action. Only Ben Harwick was a healthy scratch, despite his nonstop assertions about his prowess as a field player. Hanover’s quality of play remained excellent, but the prospect of seeing the scoreless streak snapped was too much for some of the senior starters. Angus Kennedy curled into a fetal position on the bench, and Matt Wetherell nervously peeled chunks of leather from his Predators.
Those fears were nearly realized with minutes to go in the game when a Plymouth corner kick created a scramble in the box, well-covered by goalie Gest. That near miss paled compared to the final close call, a long-distance rocket shot by Plymouth’s Driscoll that was labeled for the back of the net. Gest was equal to the task, preserving the shutout and The Streak with a highlight-reel dive, levitating to his left to tip the ball over the bar.
The Marauders now have nearly a week off before their next home match, a Wednesday matinee against Monadnock, which will be coming to Hanover for its third game in three days. See you on the rug!
