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The Atlee boys’ soccer team struck quickly against rival Hanover then held off a valiant comeback attempt by the Hawks to pull out a 3-1 win in Capital District action last Thursday night.

  The ball had barely picked up a full coating of dew from the wet grass before Atlee senior Ian Shelton put the Raiders on top 1-0. Shelton drove into the middle and fired a shot past Hanover keeper Alex Moore (seven saves) in the third minute of play.

  “It’s always nice to get that early one,” said Atlee head coach Steve Thompson. “But then we worked hard the rest of the game. It was a defensive battle at midfield.”

  “I guess we just weren’t ready to play,” said Hanover head coach Joe Broscious. “That’s kind of been our motif for the season, just making sure the guys are ready when the whistle blows. (The Raiders) were able to take advantage of it and we just didn’t have enough time to recover.”

  The Raiders nearly added to their tally in the 14th minute but Chris Martin’s rocket shot at goal made solid contact with the upright and caromed away.

  Throughout the contest, the Atlee defense frustrated Hanover’s attempts to move the ball up field and the Hawks were further frustrated by the work of Michael McCabe at keeper. For the game, McCabe came away with five saves, diving, jumping and grabbing, each seemingly outdoing the previous one.

  “He came up big a couple times,” Thompson said. “He set the tone early on one of their long throws. He came out and just owned the six-yard box and he continued to do that the rest of the game. That was a big impact and that’s where one of their strengths is, getting the ball in there. We cut it out.”

  Broscious had nothing but praise for the opposing keeper’s efforts. “He’s a good goalie, no doubt,” he said. “But we have to take our chances when we can and a lot of our throwings and free kicks he was able to gobble up so that’s kind of a learning experience for next time.”

  In the second period, Atlee came out strong and scored again in the 46th minute of play when sophomore Jordan Boothe angled a shot in from the right side of goal.

  Facing a 2-0 deficit and time rapidly ticking away, the Hawks did not throw in the towel and with six minutes remaining in regulation, Hanover senior John Basch slipped a shot past McCabe’s defense to trim the Atlee lead, 2-1.

  Hanover had a shot to tie the game in the final minute of play when senior midfielder Steven Reichart set up for a free kick. However, a trio of Atlee defenders, Hunter Boroughs, Shane Atkins and Ryan Boothe built a wall to deflect the shot attempt.

  Then to add insult to injury, the Raiders cleared the ball, with Jordan Boothe racing downfield to score again in the final seconds for a 3-1 victory.

  “We put our chances away tonight,” Thompson said. “It’s something that we haven’t been doing. That was good to see.”

  Though his team lost, Broscious was happy to see that his team never conceded the game. “That’s one of the good things about the guys, they don’t ever give up,” he said. “It’s something I tried to instill in them from the first day.

  “I think the last 10 minutes was a better showing of what we can actually do,” the coach added. “So, next time we see them hopefully we’ll get all 80 minutes that way.”

Hanover…................................. 0 1 — 1
Atlee .......................................... 1 2 — 3
H: Basch A: Boothe 2, Shelton
Saves: McCabe (A) 5; Moore (H) 7
Records: Hanover 2-1 Capital, 3-3; Atlee 3-1, 3-2