High school boys soccer: Tactical tweak yields hat trick in Lebanon win
Published: 10-13-2024 7:01 PM |
LEBANON — When the Lebanon High boys’ soccer team took the field Friday against Pelham, Abe Pearson was not among the Raiders’ starting 11, a first this season.
Ahead of the game, Lebanon coach Rob Johnstone tried to make it clear to the junior forward that the move was not “a demotion.” It was a simple tinkering of sorts, an attempt at finding the best way to unlock and deploy Pearson in the final third.
Johnstone’s pivot from the team’s 4-1-4-1 formation to a 4-1-3-2 paired Pearson up top with another striker. Pearson’s subsequent performance — a hat trick en route to a 4-0 Raiders win — might have done enough to solve Johnstone’s quandary.
“(Coach) went back to the two-striker formation with me,” Pearson said. “I went in with Nico (Pentella) and it allowed us (to apply) a lot of offensive pressure, just being able to cover more space in the final third, which is something we’ve struggled with. I think changing it up was a good idea. And it obviously worked.”
With the win, Lebanon is now 7-3-3. It was the Raiders’ first game scoring more than two goals since a seven-goal outburst against John Stark on Sept. 17. In its most recent outings — back-to-back 1-1 draws with ConVal and Souhegan — Lebanon was not lacking for attacking opportunities; it just hadn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
That was far from the case against the Pythons. The Raiders’ three forays into Pelham’s defensive third in the opening six minutes were an early indication of the ensuing attacking onslaught.
Two minutes later and facing pressure near midfield, senior midfielder Otto Bourne calmly dispatched the Pelham defender before switching the field with a ball in behind the Pythons’ backline to Pentella.
“I noticed that (Pelham’s) four in the back were playing very straight and high. They had no center backs dropping,” Pentella said. “So, pretty much, I just exploited the space. And then once I lock eyes (with Bourne), I just make that straight run to the goal, and he just sends me in.”
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Moments earlier, Johnstone had told his senior forward to look for a chance to release behind Pelham’s quartet of defenders. Bourne and Pentella have been “playing together for a long time,” so their connection is innate at this point, Pentella said. Receiving Bourne’s pass, Pentella took a couple of touches and rifled a shot past the Pelham goalkeeper.
Owning a 1-0 advantage just eight minutes in, Lebanon — and Pentella in particular — continued to threaten Pelham’s back line. In a nine-minute span following his goal, Pentella had one shot clank off the crossbar, sent another sailing over the goal and had two other shots saved.
Then it was Pearson’s turn.
Pearson’s tally in the 23rd minute, a rebound finish after the Pythons’ goalkeeper struggled to collect the ball in the box, was the first of two scores in the opening 40 minutes. His second came off a corner kick in the dying moments of the first half, a proper poacher’s goal in which he was simply “picking up loose change” and slotted the ball in the back of the net.
His third and final score, coming off yet another set piece, saw him pounce on a ball bobbing around in the six-yard box. With no defenders to pressure him, Pearson said he “just went for it,” firing a low-angle shot back across goal that was either going to roll in or see one of his teammates pick it off and tap it in.
It ended up being the former as Pearson secured his hat trick shortly before the game’s final whistle.
“Boy, did he rise to the challenge today,” Johnstone said of Pearson. “He scored three different kinds of goals, which is great.”
The four-goal shutout triumph caps the Raiders’ four-game home stand, one bookended by a pair of victories.
Lebanon travels to Plymouth (3-7-2) on Tuesday in its lone game this week before hosting Merrimack Valley (6-6) on Oct. 22 and ending the regular season with a match at Milford (9-1-2) on Oct. 25.
“It’s gratifying to finish off the possessions,” Johnstone said. “Because we know, moving forward, that’s critical. Having the ball is nice; having 10, 11 or 12 corners is nice. If you don’t score, it doesn’t really matter.
“I truly believe we’ve progressed with each week and gotten better — except for the end product, the results. Heading into the final 25% of the season, I think we’re very close, but ultimately, we’ve got to do it.”
Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.