Shoremen Never Trail, Pin 16-8 Setback on Gophers

Loss Snaps Goucher's Nine-Game Winning Streak at Home

TOWSON, Md. — For two teams that never met prior to 2010, Goucher and Washington (Md.) have developed quite a rivalry, one in which the victor in three of the first four games of the series came out on top by just one goal. The fourth contest was decided by only a slightly larger margin of three goals.

The fifth game between the in-state rivals, played this afternoon on Beldon Field, turned out a bit differently.

The Shoremen scored eight times on 18 shots on the way to a five-goal lead at the end of the first quarter. Even though they allowed the Gophers to close to within 9-7 during the middle stages of the third period, they pulled away again in the final 15 minutes to record an impressive 16-8 victory.

The loss snapped Goucher's nine-game winning streak at home that dated back to 2010.

Washingtion had already jumped out to a 3-0 lead today before Tristan Morris (Houston, Texas/Houston Christian) won a faceoff for Goucher and immediately took off for the goal, sticking a shot that got head coach Brian Kelly's squad on the scoreboard. Also scoring for the Gophers (1-1) in the opening period were Sam Woodruff (Glen Ridge, N.J./Kent School) and Pierce Ingram (Austin, Texas/Westwood).

Hunter Nowicki tallied the only goal during the first 12 minutes of the second quarter, expanding Washington's lead to 9-3, but Steve Patterson (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake School) and Max Roach (Austin, Texas/Austin) responded with back-to-back goals just 48 seconds apart late in the period, making the score 9-5 in favor of the Shoremen at halftime.

Even though the Gophers failed to score when they were up two men for a full minute early in the third quarter, they continued to chip away at Washington's lead. Woodruff's second goal of the contest made the score 9-6 midway through the period and Dylan Zook (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) added to Goucher's total when he cashed in at 5:59 during an extra-man opportunity.

The two-goal difference held up for less than two minutes, however. An unassisted goal by Jim Cusick bumped Wasgington's cushion up to 10-7 with 4:29 remaining in the third quarter, and before time expired in the period, the Shoremen (1-0) tacked on unassisted goal by David McBrien and Kodie Englehart and enjoyed a 12-7 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes.

Another man-up goal by Zook is all that the Gophers could muster up offensively in the fourth quarter.

In assuming a 3-2 edge in the all-time series between the two schools, the Shoremen outshot the Gophers, 56-39, and won the battle for ground balls, 44-17.