Goucher Men's Lacrosse Falls To Arcadia In Offensive Slugfest

BALTIMORE, Md. – Despite a career-high five goal performance by Matt Woodson (Timonium, Md./McDonough), Goucher College was derailed by Arcadia University's strong finish to the game in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Saturday. 

Woodson notched five goals to surpass his career best of four tallies he scored against Immaculata on April 10, 2018. The senior has registered at least a hat trick in his last four games while also dishing out at least two assists in each of those contests. The current Landmark Conference Offensive Player of the Week tallied his eighth three-goal performance and 16th multigoal game of his career. The senior leads the team with 17 goals and 11 assists for 28 points to also rank second in the circuit in points and goals and third in assists.

Ben Smith (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) added a hat trick while Jared Heath (Windham, N.H./New Hampton) posted a tally and a career-high three assists. Smith registered his third hat trick in his last five games and has posted multigoal performances in each of his last five tilts. Heath recorded a pair of two-assist games as a freshman before establishing a career high for assists on Saturday.

Nick Patterson (East Lansing, Mich./Damonte Ranch) gave the Gophers a 13-12 lead with 5:31 left in the third quarter and after a Justin Lugo (Davie, Fla./St. Andrew's School) save in the final 90 seconds of the frame Goucher looked poised to run out the clock and go into the final quarter with a one-goal lead.

However, the Gophers turned the ball over and the Knights scored with 22 seconds left in the quarter and again with 15 seconds left to take the lead for good.

Arcadia jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Woodson scored the next two goals to give Goucher a 2-1 edge. The senior took a feed from Heath at 12:58 and then scored unassisted 50 seconds later.

After the Knights tied the match, Heath scored off a feed from Steven Mancha (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) at 9:39 for a 3-2 edge. Arcadia found the twine again before Woodson connected with Smith at 7:57 to give the Gophers a 4-3 lead. The Knights would then score the next five goals to take an 8-4 lead after one quarter.

Woodson had a hand in the first two goals of the second quarter after he set up Andrew Sade (Lewisberry, Pa./Northern York) at 11:30 and then scored unassisted for his third tally of the afternoon at 10:06 to cut the margin to 8-6.

After a Knights' score, Jared Halverson (Durham, N.C./C.E. Jordan) twinkled the twine off a feed from Heath at 8:27 and Rashaan Evans (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) scored on a low sidearm shot with 7:17 on the clock to cut the margin to 9-8. Arcadia had an answer at the end of the stanza again by scoring the final two goals to go into the break with an 11-8 advantage.

Goucher came out of halftime strong, scoring the first four goals of the second half to take a 12-11 lead. Woodson for the third-straight quarter was the catalyst to start the scoring with an unassisted marker at 14:25. Smith scored the next two tallies off a pass from Evans at 12:25 and Heath at 11:59 to tie the game at 11. Woodson then completed his career afternoon with his fifth tally unassisted at 8:19 for a 12-11 edge.

The Knights momentarily halted the run with a goal. Patterson then took the faceoff and Mancha scooped up the ground ball and passed the ball ahead to Patterson, who then made a move and buried the shot to hand the Gophers its final lead at 13-12 with 5:31 left.

Arcadia then scored the final nine goals to take the game, 21-13.

Mancha paced the defense with six ground balls and three caused turnovers while Patterson had a team-high seven ground balls. Lugo made a career-high 24 saves on the day.

Goucher returns to action at Neumann University on Wednesday. Game time is 4 p.m.