Gophers Fall to Drew, Miss Opportunity for Playoffs

MADISON, N.J. — Goucher's Landmark playoff hopes diminished this afternoon at Ranger Stadium as the team dropped its season finale contest to Drew, 14-7. 

Unlike last season's meeting, when head coach Ceri Miller's squad took the 12-10 victory over Drew for the fourth and final spot in the conference's postseason tournament, the Gophers (8-8, 2-4 Landmark) commited a bevy of turnovers and never notched that "big goal" to shift the momentum.

• Right out of the gate, the Rangers (7-10, 3-3 Landmark) cashed in on three Gopher turnovers as Maddie Spiess scored two goals and Morgan Mason added another in the first 10 minutes of the contest to give the home team a 3-0 advantage.

• Goucher struck back twice in the next five minutes as Sophie Smith (Lawrenceville, N.J./Madison) and Jojo Franklin (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver School) scored a goal each off a free-position shot.

• Twice, in the opening 30 minutes, the Gophers trailed by one but the home team found the back of the net to extend their lead.

• Drew notched two goals in the final two minutes of the first half to hold a 7-4 advantage at the break.

• The Rangers put the game out of reach with five straight goals to open up the second half. Spiess had two of them during this period and led all scoring with five strikes.

• Franklin, who scored four times in the loss, finishes the season with 38 goals — leading the team. Zoe Merz (Westminster, Md./Westminster), Dani McCreary (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) and Smith added a goal as well.

• Kat Carnevale (Portland, Ore./St. Mary's Academy) was one of four Gophers to register a caused turnover this afternoon. With that, the senior is now tied for fourth all-time for caused turnovers in a career, with 89. Though, she's in good company as her fellow teammate, junior Stefi Perry (Houston, Texas/Klein), is at 89 also.

Goucher will have a new face at the helm of the program for the 2017 campaign as Miller has accepted an offer to become the head coach of a new Division I program at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.