Gophers Clinch Home-Field Advantage

Gophers Clinch Home-Field Advantage

April 18, 2007 

ST. MARY'S CITY, MD — Emily Blatter (Lexington, VA/Rockbridge County) played an instrumental role in helping Goucher overcome an 11-9 deficit to St. Mary's (Md.) at halftime today and earn a 15-13 triumph over the Seahawks.

The victory locks head coach Katie Trainor's squad into being the No. 4 seed for the upcoming Capital Athletic Conference championship tournament. In the tournament's opening round on Sunday, the Gophers will again take on St. Mary's, but they earned the right to host the contest by virtue of today's win.

The 11-9 score nearly held up for the entire opening 10 minutes of the second half, but Blatter tallied an unassisted goal 9:52 into the period to reduce Goucher's deficit to 11-10. Within a span of less than four minutes, the junior attacker added three more goals in succession, providing the Gophers with a 13-11 lead.

The Gophers (7-6, 4-2 CAC) ended up scoring the first six goals of the second half — tacking on goals by Whitney Groseclose (Boyce, VA/Mercersburg Academy) and Marlo Tersigni (Leominster, MA/Lawrence Academy) — to pull in front 15-11. The Seahawks (8-7, 4-3 CAC) closed to within 15-13 on back-to-back goals by Lauren Carrier, but then neither team was able to score over the final 10:18.

Blatter contributed six goals and four assists to the victory, giving her a career-high total of 10 points for the contest. She had never scored more than five goals in a game before supplying the Gophers with six goals in each of their past three outings.

Carrier finished with six goals and one assist for the Seahawks, who led by as many as three goals in the first half.

The Gophers out-shot St. Mary's, 36-31.