Murnin's 6-4, 6-3 Win at No. 6 Produces 5-4 Victory

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Because Goucher prevailed in only one of the three doubles matches, the Gophers were going to need to come up with at least four wins during the singles competition in order to defeat Penn St.-Harrisburg today and get off to a 1-0 start in Brendan Kincaid's third season as head coach.

Seth Hoesman (Ellicott City, Md./Howard), who was appearing at No. 1 singles for the 40th consecutive match dating back to the 2012-13 season, Joey Caracappa (Wesley Chapel, Fla./Saddlebrook Preparatory School), who was at No. 2 for the first singles match of his collegiate career, and Midori Fujitani (Tokyo, Japan/International School Bangkok), stationed at No. 3, all came through for the Gophers.

Caracappa was the first of the three players in the upper half of Goucher's singles lineup to finish and his 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Victor Costa knotted up the overall match at 2-2.

Hoesman put the Gophers ahead, 3-2, by pinning a 6-1, 6-3 setback on Chris Magee, but a 6-1, 6-2 victory by Manesh Subramania over Britt Shortle (Lake Mary, Fla./Trinity Preparatory School) tied the match up again, this time at 3-all.

Goucher regained a 4-3 lead when Fujitani completed his 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Fahwy; Tyler Cook made it 4-4 by beating Josh Goldberg 6-2, 6-2 at fifth singles.

That left only the No. 6 singles match remaining — and the fate of the two teams riding on the outcome. Pat Murnin (Salt Lake City, Utah/East) became the hero for Goucher by polishing off Austin King 6-4, 6-3, clinching a 5-4 victory over the Nittany Lions (0-1).

The Gophers (1-0) secured their only point during the doubles competition at No. 1 where Hoesman and Caracappa bested Magee and Costa, 9-7.

The second of the three matches Goucher is scheduled to play during the fall portion of its 2014-15 schedule is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. and the opponent will be York.