Gophers Finally Solve Eagles, Now 6-0 in Landmark

TOWSON, Md. — When Brendan Kincaid became Goucher's head men's tennis coach, there were still five teams in the Landmark Conference the Gophers had not yet beaten since the conference was formed. In 2014-15, his third season and the Landmark's eighth, he was finally able to cross four of those teams off the list because his squad defeated Catholic, Drew, Moravian and Scranton.

That left only Juniata, which managed to down Goucher twice last season, the second time in the Landmark Conference championship match, 5-3.

The two teams may meet more than once again in 2015-16, but if they do, the Gophers will no longer still be looking for their first win over the Eagles in the conference's nine-year existence. They accomplished that this afternoon with a 6-3 victory.

• Goucher's No. 1 doubles team of Joey Caracappa (Smithtown, N.Y./Saddlebrook Preparatory School) and Seth Hoesman (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) overcame a 3-1 deficit to register an 8-6 win over Dean Polisena and Roy Liberman, which provided the Gophers (14-4, 6-0 Landmark) with a 2-1 lead heading into the singles competition.

• Caracappa and Polisena met up again at first singles. With his 6-3, 6-3 win, Caracappa improved to 5-2 in singles play in 2015-16 and extended Goucher's advantage in the match to 3-1.

• After Hoesman's 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Matyas Kohout at No. 3, the Gophers led 4-1 and needed to win only one more match to sew up the victory. That came when Jack Hodges (London, England/Shrewsbury School), inserted at No. 2 in Goucher's singles lineup, battled back from being down a set to knock off Matyas Kohout 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

• Midori Fujitani (Tokyo, Japan/International School Bangkok) was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Juniata's Logan Moore at No. 5 singles.

• The Eagles (6-7, 2-1 Landmark) trailed 6-1 before getting wins from Bryan Gregory at No. 4 singles and Daichi McAuliffe-Uch at No. 6.

The Gophers will have to wait more than a week for their next match, which is set for Wednesday, April 20, at 3:30 p.m. against Elizabethtown. It will be the final home match of the regular season for Kincaid's squad.