Lebanon
With seven starters plagued by injuries of varying severity, the Marauders utilized all of their active players to defeat the Raiders 2-0.
“As soon as somebody’s injury was bothering them, somebody else had to go in,” Essex said. “The idea was to get through the whole game (without more injuries).”
The visitors did much more than get through Friday, posting a shutout victory over the back-to-back NHIAA Division II state champions.
“It was a huge win for us,” said Hanover goalie Sophie Cardenali, who helped lead the way with 13 saves.
Hanover got its offense going with 10:03 remaining in the opening half, when Natalie Smith scored off a feed from Tessa Cahoon. Cahoon assisted from the left side following a rapid full-field march by the Marauders. Smith dove to the ground as she finished from about eight feet out, directly in front of the net.
“I think I put all my effort into hitting the ball and my feet gave out under me,” Smith said, deflecting recognition for the athletic play that set up her first tally of the season.
Four minutes later, Smith returned Cahoon’s favor, setting up the junior with a crafty 45-degree-angle pass from the right wing. Cahoon won the foot race to the ball with Lebanon goalie Hope Brown then snuck it through her legs.
Shutting out the champs and an archrival on the road provided Hanover plenty to feel good about.
“To me, it means a lot,” Smith said. “Having a shutout means we didn’t drop our effort after we scored. We kept at it.”
Cardenali’s dominant performance included three saves in a span of about 25 seconds, the brief barrage coming just prior to Hanover’s timeout with 19:17 remaining in the contest.
“I was working hard on staying on my angles and being confident in myself to do that,” Cardenali said.
The senior keeper was clearly more amped about her team’s performance, specifically on the defensive end, then the bagel she hung against Lebanon.
“I’m confident in my defense,” she said. “We’ve been working really hard as a defense together and I think that helps a lot.”
Essex pointed to youth as an asset after her squad improved to 2-2.
“I have a bunch of freshmen who don’t have any (firsthand) remembrance of Lebanon winning two state titles,” she said. “They didn’t come in scared or afraid that they were going to lose. They came in ready to play and ready to win.”
Hanover, which played its first natural-grass game of the season, avenged two losses at the hands of Lebanon from last year.
From the hosts’ perspective, it was a tale of two halves.
“First half, we really didn’t do too much,” Lebanon’s 37th-year coach Deb Beach coach said following her team’s home opener.
Lebanon (1-2), like Hanover, is a young squad that has had some setbacks in the form of injury.
“We’re really not playing as cohesively as we like, but we’ll get there,” Beach said. “We lost a lot of scoring power (to graduation) and were still trying to find those replacement scorers.”
Beach, who stressed better communication and playing harder as areas for improvement moving forward, said she was encouraged by the “outstanding” play of senior stalwarts Meredith Melendy and Corinne Kennedy.
Melendy, who played on both championship teams, reflected on Friday’s loss.
“We’re a young team,” she said. “We do have the potential to go to playoffs, but we have to work a little harder at this point if we want to get there.”
Despite obvious disappointment, the senior forward seemed optimistic about the future.
“One thing I’ve learned, is that it’s always a different team,” Melendy said about the turnover that happens after each fall season. “The fact that we are a different team from last year shouldn’t be a problem. We just need to keep on working harder.”