HANOVER, N.H. - Londonderry came to Hanover on Saturday afternoon built on defense. The sixth-seeded Lancers had posted eight shutouts this fall and had just won a 1-0 double-overtime grinder over Pinkerton three days earlier. The third-seeded Bears scored three times anyway.
Hanover beat Londonderry 3-1 on its home turf in the quarterfinals of the tournament and is now one of the last four teams standing in its division.
It was the 14th win of a dominant fall for the Bears, who improve to 14-2-2. Hanover has outscored its opponents 53-9 in 18 games and has kept 13 clean sheets, including a 1-0 win over Concord in Wednesday’s opening round, a rematch of a 0-0 draw at Concord in September.
The Bears’ only two losses came against Manchester Memorial, 3-1 on Oct. 1, and unbeaten Nashua South, 2-0 in Hanover on Oct. 22. Hanover answered both times, winning its next two games after the Memorial loss by a combined 8-0 and following the Nashua South loss with two straight tournament wins.
Londonderry, which outscored its last four regular-season opponents 18-3, finishes 11-4-3.
Next up is a semifinal against second-seeded Bedford, which beat Merrimack 3-1 on Saturday and matches Hanover at 14-2-2. The teams have already played one tight game this fall, a 2-2 draw at Bedford on Oct. 13, when Nate McFetridge and Braeden Friedman scored for the Bears and Ibrahim Jusufovic and Devyn Lafferty answered for Bedford.
The other semifinal pairs Nashua South and Exeter, with the winners meeting for the title.
Hanover boys soccer is next against Bedford in the semifinals at Manchester Memorial on Wednesday, November 4, at 4 p.m.
Other relevant play on Saturday, October 31:
Merrimack 1 at Bedford 3 Bedford, Hanover’s semifinal opponent, beat Merrimack, which the Bears edged 1-0 on Sept. 15.
Winnacunnet 0 at Nashua South 6 Nashua South, which beat Hanover 2-0 on Oct. 22, stayed unbeaten at 16-0-1.
Manchester Memorial 0 at Exeter 2 Exeter shut out Manchester Memorial, which beat the Bears 3-1 on Oct. 1.
CROSS COUNTRY
Hanover at the division championships in Manchester | Saturday, October 31
Hanover cross country left Derryfield Park in Manchester with two more trophies on Saturday. The Bears won both the boys and girls team titles at the division championships, and senior Ben Groves won the boys individual race.
Groves covered the 5-kilometer course in 15:58.5, 26.6 seconds ahead of teammate Dylan Faris, a sophomore who was second in 16:25.1. Junior Isaac McNaughton was fourth in 16:31.9 and freshman Teddy White was seventh in 16:36.9, with junior Alexander Collins 15th to complete the scoring. Oliver Collins (23rd) and Rohan Novosad (24th) were right behind. Hanover scored 29 points to beat Coe-Brown (45) and Oyster River (64) in a 15-team field, and it is the boys’ fourth straight division title.
The girls made it three titles in a row. Hanover scored 32 points, well clear of Oyster River (59) and neighbor Lebanon (76). Senior Aria Deeb led the Bears in second place in 19:17.5, followed by senior Alice Bell (fourth, 19:54.0), freshman Edie Rojansky (seventh, 20:27.1), junior Mia Sverrild (ninth, 20:27.5) and senior Ari Hirschler (10th, 20:40.5). Grace Stewart (13th) and Olive Hanissian (14th) gave Hanover seven runners in the top 14.
Saturday’s sweep came on the same course where both teams raced the Manchester Invitational in September, when Groves was second and McNaughton fifth in the large-school boys race and the boys placed second as a team. The girls also won their league championship meet in Norwich, Vt., this fall with 26 points.
Hanover cross country is next at the Meet of Champions on Saturday, November 7, at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds, with the girls racing at 2:30 p.m. and the boys at 3:10 p.m.
That wraps up the day for Hanover High School sports. We’ll see you next time!