HANOVER — An explosion of scoring in the second half lifted the Hanover High field hockey to a 6-0 victory over the Kennett High Eagles, in an NHIAA Division II first-round playoff matchup at Merriam-Branch Memorial Field on Thursday afternoon.
A trio of juniors led the way for the Bears. Sophia Mancini, Greta Mancini and Anya Nyhan each scored twice. Sophia Mancini, juniors Grace Healey and Joia Collins and freshman Anna Farrell contributed assists.
“We’re super excited,” Bears Head Coach Mallory MacKenzie said after the playoff victory. “Kennett had a long drive to get here, and they came to play and they dominated the first quarter. But then we really turned it up as a team and focused on bringing our intensity and our energy.”
As dominant as the 11-seeded Eagles were in the first quarter, creating multiple chances off corners, they had no goals to show for it.
The Bears’ offensive pressure started to mount in the second quarter, and they finally broke through on Nyhan’s first goal just over four minutes into the second. Hanover, the 6th seed, went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead.
MacKenzie’s message to her team during the intermission was simple. If they wanted to win, they needed more goals: “1-0 at halftime was not ideal; it wasn’t a cushion. We’ve scored five goals in a half before, so the other team could easily have done that. I said they need to turn it up, they need to turn it up offensively and communicate with each other.”
Message received.
Sophia Mancini scored her first goal just over 3 minutes into the third quarter. And she was not done there. Less than two minutes later, she scored again on an assist from Farrell to give Hanover a 3-0 lead.
“I told them in the circle, I’m really proud of them and I’m really impressed with how they turned it up and how they came out as a totally different team in the second half,” MacKenzie said.
Hanover went on to add three more goals in the final quarter, and strong team defense and senior goalie Harper Rogers-Regenthal combined to secure the shutout.
The Bears will now travel to 3rd-seeded John Stark for a quarterfinals matchup on Sunday at 2 p.m. The two programs faced off in the semifinals last season, with the Generals winning, 3-1.
In their matchup this year on Sept. 3 , John Stark won 2-0 in what was just the second game of the season for both teams. Hanover lost its first three games before winning 10 of its last 12 to finish 10-5 on the season. John Stark had just one loss and two ties against 13 wins.
MacKenzie said the key for the Bears will be maintaining the intensity of Thursday’s second half.
“Sometimes we get a goal and we sigh in relief, and then we kind of ease up a little bit on our opponent,” MacKenzie said. “Just keep the foot to the gas the whole time.”