Crowd of 437 Watches Gophers Turn Back Mariners

Two Teams Meet Again in Landmark Semifinals in Four Days

TOWSON, Md. — One of the largest crowds to watch a home game in the history of Goucher's men's lacrosse program was treated to a 10-5 victory over the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy this afternoon.

The Gophers, playing in front of 437 sun-drenched fans on Beldon Field, failed to score in the first quarter, but they took their first lead of the contest (2-1) on an unassisted goal by Steve Patterson (Minneapolis, Minn./Blake School) 2:24 into the second period. The junior midfielder added another goal before the end of the first half, opened the scoring in the third stanza with an unassisted goal and then accounted for Goucher's only goal in the final 15 minutes of play.

Patterson's four-goal effort today against the Mariners boosted his total for the season to 20, which ranks second on the team behind junior midfielder Pierce Ingram (Austin, Texas/Westwood). Ingram tallied his 24th goal of the season in the third quarter, putting Goucher ahead 9-4 at the time.

Owen Demmerly (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) also scored twice for the Gophers in the second quarter, who led the team they'll face again four days from now in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference postseason tournament, 6-4, at halftime.

Dylan Zook (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) and Conner Annunziato (West Chester, Pa./Bayerd Rustin) contributed one goal apiece to Goucher's six-goal outburst in the second period. Sandwiched between the goals Patterson and Ingram scored in the third quarter was one by Max Roach (Austin, Texas/Austin).

The Mariners (8-7, 3-3 Landmark), came in as the highest scoring team in the Landmark Conference at 9.64 goals per contest, but only three players were able to solve starting goalkeeper Connor Mishaw (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine) of the Gophers. Delaney Oksman supplied the first goal of the game and added another in the fourth quarter; Geoff harty stuck a pair of goals and Michael Ackerman added one in the second period.

Mishaw, who played into the fourth quarter, finished with 14 saves.

The Gophers (8-7, 6-0 Landmark) ended up with a healthy 47-28 advantage in shots as they improved to 9-1 all-time in the series with their ninth straight win over the Mariners.