Three Teams Get 2011 Campaigns Under Way Thursday

Field Hockey Hosts Local Rival in Raffo's Debut as Head Coach

TOWSON, Md. — The honor of playing Goucher's first intercollegiate athletic contest at home during 2011-12 goes to field hockey, which begins its season against Notre Dame (Md.) on Beldon Field at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Two teams, however, will get a slight jump on field hockey in launching their 2011 campaigns: the Gophers and Gators will also square off Thursday in women's soccer, but the contest will be played on the Notre Dame campus starting at 4:00; an hour later, the men's soccer team opens on the road at Hood.

The field hockey game against Notre Dame will also mark the debut of Whitney Raffo, who became the eighth person to serve as the head coach for that sport at Goucher since the school joined the NCAA in 1987.

One day later, Goucher's volleyball and two cross country teams will be in action for the first time. The volleyball team, which will be competing in a five-team tournament at Johns Hopkins, has matches scheduled against City (N.Y.) and the host school on Friday and against DeSales and Meredith on Saturday. The cross country teams are entered in Friday's Baltimore Metro Meet, which was relocated to the campus of McDaniel College due to damage caused by Hurricane Irene at Oregon Ridge Park.

The men's soccer team under the direction of second-year head coach Bryan Laut will host the Goucher Soccer Classic over the weekend, taking on Penn St. Berks at noon on Saturday and Johns Hopkins at 2:30 Sunday afternoon.

Raffo's team will return to action Saturday at 5 p.m. when it entertains Cedar Crest on Beldon Field.