Anguiano Chavez, Crusaders blank visiting Dover, 4-0

MANCHESTER, NH — Omar Anguiano Chavez scored twice, early in the second half, to lead Memorial past Dover High, 4-0, Tuesday night at Chabot-McDonough Field.

Memorial (3-5-1) snapped a two-game losing streak and its four goals equaled its offensive output in its first eight games –COMBINED. Still, Head Coach Jerold White didn’t think it was his team’s best performance of the season.

“I think our game with Central (a 1-0 loss) was better, overall, in terms of intensity and moving the ball,” said White. “Dover gave us a lot of room to do what we wanted, so there wasn’t that intensity. That makes it a little hard for our guys to do the things we want to do.

The Crusaders led just 2-0 at intermission, despite dominating play in the first half. Anguiano Chavez quashed any hopes the Green Wave (2-6-0) had for a comeback when he found the back of the net on a free kick from about 20 yards in the 42nd minute.

Less than two minutes later, the senior forward struck again. This time, he took a perfect through pass from Brayden Merchant, drove to the right, stopped hard, pivoted back and drilled a shot with his left foot past Dover keeper Ronan Tullis, building the lead to 4-0.

Goal scoring has been a major problem for Memorial in the first half of 2023. The Crusaders have been shut out five times and had scored more than one goal in a game just once heading into Tuesday night. The modest offensive explosion against Dover could serve to give White’s team a bit of momentum heading into the second half of the season.

“The hope is to just play one game at a time and kind of connect in the way we’ve been connecting with the kids,” said White. “We need to be consistent and that’s what we have not been. We have not been consistent.”

The first five minutes against Dover were painfully familiar for White. His Crusaders attacked early and kept Dover pinned its own end. The Crusaders buzzed the net and had four prime scoring chances, only to come up empty.

“It was reminiscent of all those other games we had before. We had four chances and couldn’t get anything. I was getting ready to hang my head,” said White.

Memorial was finally able to break the ice with a bit of help from Dover. In the 11th minute, Merchant lofted a corner kick to the front of the Dover net. Players from each team leapt high to get “first touch” and it was a Dover defender who made contact with his head. Unfortunately for the Green Wave, the ball deflected off his head and past Tullis fpor an “own goal,” giving Memorial a 1-0 lead.

Later, in the 36th minute, Memorial senior Justin Amaya scored on a sensational arcing shot from 35 yards that just snuck under the crossbar, making it 2-0.

Memorial’s domination was thorough. The Crusaders held an 8-2 edge in shots on goal and a 4-0 edge in corners. Time in the attack zone was also dramatically in Memorial’s favor.

Memorial returns to action Thursday, when it hits the road for a game at Spaulding.