Second-Half Outburst Leads Gophers Past Knights

TOWSON, Md. — While today's game might have been lacking in style points early on, by the time the final whistle sounded Goucher had emerged with its fifth victory in seven games to start the 2015 season.

Stefi Perry (Houston, Texas/Klein) scored a career-high five goals, while Jessica Borucki (Westminster, Md./North Carroll) contributed four goals and four assists to lead the Gophers to an 18-10 victory over Mount St. Mary (N.Y.) at Beldon Field.

Rita Meissner (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) and Jojo Franklin (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver School) also had four point games for Goucher, which scored 13 goals in the second half to break open what had been a 5-5 tie at the intermission.

Katie Gattoni fired in three opening half goals for the Knights (2-3), the last of which gave the visitors a 3-2 advantage with 8:15 on the clock. Zoe Merz (Westminster, Md./Westminster) immediately set up Sophie Smith (Lawrenceville, N.J./Madison) 35 seconds later to even up the score, and Perry and Borucki followed with strikes to put the Gophers up by two.

Mount St. Mary, though, picked up a pair of goals in the final 40 seconds to tie things up again. Goucher was outshot 14-11 in the first 30 minutes, and the Knights won 8 of 11 draw controls.

Franklin needed only 61 seconds to give the Gophers a second-half lead, taking a pass from Borucki and directing a shot past goalie Emily Carboine to make it 6-5. Her goal would be the only one for over eight minutes until Perry netted her third of the afternoon with 21:54 left.

That strike began a stretch in which the teams combined for five tallies over 2:12. The flurry ended when Mount St. Mary defender Claire Duffy reduced her squad's deficit to 9-7 with her second goal of the contest.

The Knights, however, would get no closer. Goucher responded with a 5-0 run to put the game out of reach.

Meissner collected a man-down goal during that period, and she ended her afternoon with three goals and an assist. Franklin totaled two goals and two assists, while Anneke Ossorio (Lafayette, Colo./Kent Denver School) picked up a pair of second half strikes. Dani McCreary (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) added a man-up goal with 5:12 left to round out the score sheet.

The Gophers (5-2) managed 21 of the game's 29 second half shots. They also picked up 17 of the frame's 24 ground balls, giving them a 29-17 advantage for the contest.

Kat Carnevale (Portland, Ore./St. Mary's Academy) made her presence felt on the backline. The 2014 Second-Team All-Landmark defender caused a team-high four turnovers and she also registered four ground balls and three draw controls. Emily Gill (White Hall, Md./North Harford), who played the full 60 minutes for the second time this season, stopped six shots in goal.

Borucki, who currently leads the Landmark with 27 points in her debut season, picked up a team-best five ground balls and had three caused turnovers. Perry forced three giveaways as well, and her five goals came on only five shots.

Goucher, which has played six of its first seven games at home, will hit the road for the next two, beginning with a 6 p.m. spring break matchup at Meredith in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday evening.