Gophers Earn First Shutout, Clinch No. 1 Seed

Gophers Earn First Shutout, Clinch No. 1 Seed

70-5 Advantage in Shots Leads to 18-0 Win Over Crusaders

April 24, 2009

TOWSON, Md. – In the 18-year history of Goucher's men's lacrosse program, the Gophers had never unleashed as many as 70 shots in a game and had never shut out an opponent – until today.

The extraordinary combination of a 70-shot attack and a defense that limited Susquehanna to no goals on only five shots produced an 18-0 victory that officially made the Gophers the No. 1 seed in next week's Landmark Conference championship tournament.

Even though they outshot the Crusaders, 17-0, in the opening quarter, the Gophers were only ahead 3-0 after 15 minutes. Senior midfielder Brian Hoge (Crofton, Md./Arundel) put Goucher (10-4, 5-1 Landmark) ahead 1-0 and the other two goals in the first period were scored by freshman attackman Rory Averett (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock North).

Hoge scored twice in the second quarter, which ended with the Gophers leading 7-0.

The Gophers erupted for nine goals in the third period, four of them by senior attackman Sam Fitzpatrick (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe).

Averett tallied the final goal of the contest with 9:42 left to play. It was his team-leading 35th of the season.

Fitzpatrick finished with five goals, giving him 31 for the season and 89 for his career.

In addition to scoring twice, freshman attackman Kyle Boncaro (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) was awarded assists on six of Goucher's goals, one shy of the single-game school record. He leads the Gophers in assists (33) and points (61).

The Gophers had previously held four opponents to a single goal: Stevenson in 1994, York and Marymount in 2003 and Catholic in 2008. Two goalkeepers combined on the shutout as senior Austin Main (Berlin, Md./Stephen Decatur) played the first half, faced two shots and made one save and junior Chris Stricklin (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) came in and turned away one of the three shots the Crusaders (5-11, 0-6 Landmark) got off in the second half.

The shutout, according to head coach Kyle Hannan, was a total team effort.

"I told the guys after the game that you have to credit our attackman for the way they rode, limiting the number of possessions Susquehanna had," he said. "The midfielders did their part by matching up, taking the transition away. Our defensemen played solid on-ball defense, which is what we expect out of them."

The former record for shots in a game was 66, set against Hood in 2007.

Goucher won't know its opponent (Drew or Scranton) until Saturday, but will host one of Wednesday's two semifinals in Gopher Stadium.