Men's Lacrosse Dominates River Hawks on Beldon Field

TOWSON, Md. – The Goucher College men's lacrosse team (4-7, Landmark 1-2) made its first Landmark Conference win of the season look easy, handling the River Hawks 10-4 at home on Saturday.

Freshman Anthony Scarpola (Baltimore, Md.) led the Gophers in scoring on the afternoon, notching his first career hat trick for the blue & gold. He also accumulated a team-high two caused turnovers in the game. The remaining seven goals came from seven difference Gophers en route to the win.

Junior Derek Bitzer (Doylestown, Pa.) also chipped in with a personal record-tying performance, dishing out two assists on the day. Freshman Matt Woodson (Timonium, Md.), sophomore Zephan Harnish (Woodsboro, Md.) and senior Corey Hill (Emmaus, Pa.) also distributed the ball for an assist each. The assist from senior defenseman, Hill, is the first in his career at Goucher.

Junior Andrew Porzio led the River Hawks on offense with two goals in the game. Senior James Harabedian and junior Alec Tzaneteas added the other goals for Susquehanna. Tzaneteas and Jake Smolokoff added the only assists on the day for the visiting team.

Freshman Nick Patterson (East Lansing, Mich.) was 7-of-15 (46.6%) at the face-off "x" for the Gophers while Susquehanna's junior duo of Piece Mead and Jake Purnell won 7-of-12 (58.3%) and 3-of-4 (75.0%), respectively.

Junior Matt Messerle (Limerick, Pa.) had a game-high 13 saves for the Gophers to earn his fourth win of the season between the pipes for Goucher. Freshman Alex Shields (Cockeysville, Md.) supplemented Messerle's time in net, playing three minutes, making one save.

How It Happened:

• The River Hawks opened the game with back-to-back goals in the opening nine minutes. 
• Scarpola found twine for the Gophers with 5:01 left in the first quarter, halving the River Hawk lead before the start of the second quarter.
• Goucher dominated the second quarter, netting four goals and shutting out Susquehanna on offense.
• Junior Leo Sementilli (Ellicott City, Md.) started off the Gopher run with 10:41 left in the half on an unassisted goal.
• Bitzer found senior Nate Wilinski (Decatur, Ga.) with 4:20 left to go in the second quarter. Only 16 seconds later, Scarpola doubled up Goucher's lead, 4-2, after a pass from Woodson.
• Less than two minutes later Woodson and Bitzer connected on Woodson's third goal of the season.
• Bitzer closed the half with a goal as time expired following a quick pass from Harnish to beat the buzzer.
• The Gophers shut out the River Hawks in the third quarter as well. Harnish and freshman Andrew Sade (Lewisberry, Pa.) beat Susquehanna's goalie, increasing Goucher's lead, 8-2.
• Goucher's final goal in its nine-goal run was a man-down goal scored by Scarpola who nabbed a groundball off a blocked shot and buried it in the back of the net.
• Susquehanna outscored the Gophers over the final 7:40 of the game, but sophomore Mason Gorman (Boise, Idaho) broke up the run after receiving a pass from Hill on the fast break.
• As the final buzzer sounded, Goucher sealed a 10-4 victory.
• The Gophers dominated the carpet on the afternoon, 36-27. They also held an advantage in clears (20-19).
• The River Hawks won more faceoffs (10-of-17) and took more shots (34-32) in the game.

Up Next:

Goucher heads to Catholic University on Wednesday to take on the Cardinals at 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Since the two teams started playing in 1998, the Gophers are 20-2, dropping the last two meetings.