Gophers Unable to Dig Their Way Out of Early 7-2 Hole

Goucher Drops to 0-4 All-Time Against Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Goucher generally got off to good starts last season. The Gophers outscored their 18 opponents 66-27 in the first quarter and were ahead of or tied with their adversaries after 15 minutes in all but four of those games.

But it's been a different story so far in 2013. The Gophers have yet to be ahead after 15 minutes in any of their games and today's 7-2 deficit to Gettysburg at the end of the opening period morphed into a 17-8 loss to the nationally ranked Bullets.

The Gophers (1-2) have now been outscored 17-6 in the first quarters of the three games they've played.

Goucher did manage to take an early 1-0 lead today as Zachary Fratella (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine) tallied an unassisted goal just 1:35 into the contest.

The next five goals, however, all belonged to Gettysburg. Robby Maddux started the 5-0 run with an unassisted goal and Martin Mailla was awarded an assist on each of the four goals which followed.

Max Roach (Austin, Texas/Austin) interrupted the spurt with an unassisted goal that reduced the Gophers' deficit to 5-2 with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter, but that was enough time for the Bullets (2-0) to score two more times and enjoy a five-goal advantage after 15 minutes.

Of the six goals which went up on the scoreboard in the second quarter, the only one which added to Goucher's total was the one Dylan Zook (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) fired in while a Gettysburg player was serving time for a slashing penalty. The Bullets, who are at No. 15 in the USILA Division III national rankings, led 12-3 at the break.

The first time the entire contest that the Gophers managed to score back-to-back goals was when Pierce Ingram (Austin, Texas/Westwood) stuck an unassisted goal with :08 remaining in the third quarter and Gavin Wilson (Charlestown, Pa./Great Valley) did likewise in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

Bijan Firouzan contributed six goals to the victory, while Manilla finished with seven assists.

The Gophers fell to 0-4 all-time against Gettysburg even though the Bullets managed only a slight edge in shots (40-38) and ground balls (33-31).