Gophers Launch New Season on Successful Note

Gophers Launch New Season on Successful Note

Feb. 23, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Goucher outscored Greensboro, 9-4, in the middle two periods on the way to a season-opening 10-6 victory over the Pride this afternoon.

The Gophers (1-0) trailed 1-0 after one quarter and fell behind 2-0 on an unassisted goal by Jose Rodriguez 1:14 into the second period before getting on the scoreboard on an unassisted goal by Adam Pietrocarlo (Hamburg, NY/Frontier Central).

After another goal by Rodriguez put the Pride (0-1) ahead 3-1, Goucher strung together four consecutive goals to take a 5-3 advantage at the end of the first half. The 4-0 run started with even-strength goals by Brian Hoge (Crofton, MD/Arundel) and Sam Fitzpatrick (Littleton, CO/Arapahoe), a man-up goal by Dave Duff (Westwood, MA/Suffield Academy) provided the Gophers with their first lead of the contest and Alex Boucher (North Wales, PA/Germantown Academy) closed out the scoring in the first half with an unassisted goal with 6:54 showing on the clock.

Even though Greensboro scored twice during a three-minute penalty on Goucher for an illegal stick to start the third quarter, the Gophers were able to maintain at least a two-goal lead throughout the period thanks to a pair of goals by Fitzpatrick and a man-down goal by Casey Hughes (Woodstock, MD/Mt. Hebron). An extra-man goal by Duff with 2:09 remaining put Goucher ahead 9-5 through three periods.

The Pride managed only one goal on nine shots in the fourth quarter as goalkeeper Austin Main (Berlin, MD/Stephen Decatur) of the Gophers made six of his 15 saves during the final 15:00 of the contest.

Jamie Houghton (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) won nine of the 13 face-offs he attempted for Goucher, which has opened with wins in six of the eight seasons that Kyle Hannan has been the head coach.