Strong Defensive Effort Earns Gopher Field Hockey Decisive Win over Randolph-Macon

Sept. 5 – VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Goucher field hockey team used a perfect defensive game, along with a pair of goals from senior Rachel Crain, to dispatch of Randolph-Macon College on Monday afternoon at the USA Field Hockey National Training Center.

Crain, who has now totaled 14 career goals, posted her third-career multi-goal game in the victory, scoring the first two tallies of the match.

Crain struck early, getting one by the Yellow Jacket goalie at the 7:11 mark of the first half off an assist from Jackie Juarez. She then scored just over three minutes later on Maya Belin's first assist of the season, making the score 2-0 with just over ten minutes gone.

The tallies by Crain would be more than enough for the Gopher defense, who, despite it being Labor Day, put in a full day's work on the back line. Goucher held Randolph-Macon without a shot through the 70-minute contest, while not even affording the Yellow Jackets so much as a penalty corner.

Goal keepers Liz Zengel and Megan Wells split the time in net, with Zengel playing for the first 35:00 minutes, and Wells, the latter.

For good measure, the Gophers added two more goals throughout the course of the matchup. Kristen Shklanko tallied her first goal of the season, and fourth of her career, on an assist by Juarez at the 17-minute mark of the first half.

Leading 3-0 in the second half of play, first-year player Meghan Oakes tallied her first-career goal, getting a feed from seniors Danielle Hallacker and Lizzie Barminski at the 48:33 mark. That goal would round out the scoring for Goucher.

The offensive domination was more than just on the scoreboard, as the Gophers outshout R-MC by a total of 26-0. Goucher posted 14 in the first half, following that with 12 in the second.

Shklanko led the team with seven shots, including five on goal, with Crain totaling four (three on net). Other multi-shot performances were put in by Oakes, Juarez, Danielle Johnson, Olivia Dickert and Emily Jewell.

Crain led the way with a pair of goals, her third multi-goal game of her career. Juarez, meanwhile, tallied a pair of assists, posting her second multi-assist game in two seasons.

The "shot"-out pitched by the Gopher defense, was the first time since Sept. 3, 2011 that the Goucher "D" held an opponent without a try on goal (6-0 victory over Cedar Crest).

The Gophers will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 10 as they travel to Ferrum, Va. to square off against the Panthers of Ferrum College. The matchup is set for a 2:00 p.m. start.