Gophers Gain First Win, Knock Off Unbeaten Monarchs

TOWSON, Md. — What Goucher couldn't do the entire first quarter against King's today, it was able to accomplish in the first six seconds of the second period.

The Gophers came up empty on the nine shots they got off in the opening 15 minutes. Then Tristan Morris (Houston, Texas/Houston Christian) won the opening faceoff of the second quarter and quickly passed the ball upfield to Max Roach (Austin, Texas/Austin), who fed Dylan Zook (Purcellville, Va./Loudoun Valley) on the doorstep. Zook's goal at 14:54 tied the score at 1-1.

Goucher went on to score four more times before halftime and then held King's to a single goal the entire second half to earn an 8-3 victory in front of a crowd of 210 at Beldon Field.

The Monarchs (4-1) led 1-0 after one period thanks to an unassisted goal by Mike O'Brien.

Pierce Ingram (Austin, Texas/Westwood) scored three times in the second quarter. The first one followed Zook's goal by less than two minutes and put the Gophers (1-4) ahead for the first time. After O'Brien's second unassisted goal of the contest midway through the period created a 2-2 tie, Ingram again gave his team the lead — this time for good — when he tallied his seventh goal of the season with 4:05 left to play before halftime.

Goucher's lead grew to 4-2 when Ingram stuck No. 8, tying him for the team lead with Sam Morgan (Wilmot, N.H./Kearsarge Regional) with :52 remaining. That proved to be enough time for the Gophers to add one more goal to their total before halftime as Gavin Wilson (Charlestown, Pa./Great Valley) stuck an unassisted goal with :03 showing on the clock to make the score 5-2.

The Monarchs closed to within 5-3 in the third quarter on an unassisted goal by Kevin Sweeney, but Wilson put his team back up by three just over a minute later with his second unassisted goal of the contest.

Owen Demmerly (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) accounted for Goucher's final two goals.

By winning, the Gophers avoided the first 0-5 start to a season in their 23-year history. They also improved to 2-0 all-time against King's.

Morris handled all 14 faceoffs for Goucher, winning eight of them. He also led the Gophers with six ground balls.

Karl Wiszumerski (Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School) went the distance in goal for Goucher and made six saves.

The Gophers will welcome Messiah to Beldon Field this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m.