Hanover
Hanover’s Rob Grabill walked off Merriman-Branch Field on Tuesday night with the home scoreboard registering a 1-0 defeat to Bedford in an early NHIAA Division I boys soccer showdown. An even match turned on a piece of improvisation, the Bulldogs’ Nathan Statires finishing a short counterattack with an 18-yard drive past the Marauders’ Patrick Logan in the 56th minute.
What followed gave Grabill considerable pleasure. Hanover — like Bedford, a preseason state title favorite — leaned on a Bulldog defense that’s as good as any in the Granite State. The Marauders piled five corner kicks into the final 23 minutes and forced four good saves from sophomore netminder Jason Statires in that stretch.
Hanover never got the goal, but no mind. Grabill liked the process, even if it didn’t net the desired result.
“This game moved us forward; this game got us closer to our goals,” Grabill told his squad afterward. “I told them before the game, ‘Don’t worry about the result. Worry about the process. Worry about if you play well or not.’ Well, we played really well.”
The Marauders (4-1) dropped from the top of the D-I standings with the defeat, becoming the fifth team of six that hasn’t been able to put one past the Bulldogs (5-1).
Organization and discipline have been essential for Bedford coach Stuart Pepper. Hanover stretched both all it could, especially after the visitors’ goal; the Bulldogs held their ground.
“We set up in two lines of four, but basically we try and control the game,” Pepper said. “We try to tire teams out by possessing. We’re comfortable in all parts of the field.”
Once Bedford took the lead, Hanover made it very uncomfortable.
After Marauder back Lucas Adams-Blackmore got a foot on one lead-pass attempt, Bedford midfielder Mark Keiffer settled the unclaimed ball and set up the goal. Keiffer’s through ball found Nathan Statires in stride; the freshman took one touch to open space to the right, then rifled a drive inside the right post at 55:51.
Hanover responded immediately. Having been directed by Grabill to the far post on set pieces, big senior midfielder Jake Acker nodded down back-to-back corners in the 58th minute, heading one wide of goal and setting up teammate Sam Pych for a side volley that Jason Statires (seven saves) caught.
Statires came up big on another Marauder corner two minutes later, denying Will Smith’s head attempt on a David Seigne service. Freshman super-sub Charlie Adams also had a pair of good attempts from the right side that missed the upper corner of Statires’ frame.
“(We have) a keeper that’s growing in stature and confidence with every game,” Pepper said of the sophomore netminder, one of three Statires brothers on the Bedford roster. “We start six sophomores and one freshman, and I think sometimes that showed tonight. I know Hanover has some young players as well, but I just think our legs and our lack of step sometimes — especially on set pieces — frightened us a little bit.”
Goalie Statires kept the match scoreless in the first half with back-to-back-to-back stops in the 23rd minute. Hanover’s Sam Strohbehn forced the first with a low drive from the left corner. Statires snuffed that as well as Marcus Helble’s point-blank rebound try, and the Bedford keeper scrambled to his left to smother Griffin Johnson’s follow-up from the deep right corner.
He also read well Hanover’s intentions on a 52nd-minute direct kick awarded after a Bedford back tripped Luke Messersmith on a dribble run just outside the penalty area. The Marauders’ Henry Kahl beat a four-Bulldog wall in search of the upper right corner, but Statires snuffed the shot with sharp footwork to his left.
“I was very happy after a scoreless first half that was like a chess match,” Grabill said. “They made a great play and scored a goal. We had four or five balls that we would like back. Twice we ran a set play — long throw, flick header in front — and it worked to perfection. We just didn’t finish on it.”
And that’s why, in the face of a first defeat, Grabill saw the corona of light around the cloud instead of the gray within.
“We’d love to be around at the end of the season; we’d love another chance to play Bedford,” Grabill said. “I think both teams now have sized each other up. I told the guys, ‘It’s a question of who improves more between now and then.’ ”
Corner Kicks: A Grabill-coached game should come with a laugh track. The 11th-year Hanover coach drew chuckles from his bench when he credited referee Murray Dewdney for a first-half foul called on one of the Marauders. When Dewdney started to grin, Grabill added, “That wasn’t sarcastic.” … They don’t work for peanuts: Grabill drew a half-dozen of his Lightning Soccer Club youth players to serve as ball boys, paying each with chocolate milk. … The third of the Statires boys, Charlie, is a senior co-captain and probably Bedford’s most dangerous striker. He was the only Bulldog with more than one of the visitors’ seven shot attempts. … Logan made three stops for Hanover, but had no chance on the match’s only goal. … Bedford owns a 17-1 goal differential through six matches, the single goal against coming in a 1-0 loss to Manchester Memorial on Sept. 7. … The Marauders held advantages of 16-7 in shots, 7-4 in shots on goal and 8-2 in corners. … Bedford drew five offside whistles, four in the second half, and should have earned a sixth when Charlie Statires broke loose behind the Hanover defense late. The Marauders ran him down before he could create any havoc. … Hanover heads to the Seacoast to face Spaulding on Friday.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.