Gophers Start Out 1-0 by Taming Lions, 7-0

TOWSON, Md. — Goucher opened its 2015-16 season today with a convincing 7-0 victory over Penn St.-Harrisburg.

Jack Hodges (London, England/Shrewsbury School), who played seven times at first singles for the Gophers last season as a freshman, was placed there for today's match by head coach Brendan Kincaid and responded by downing Tyler Cook 6-3, 6-1. Seth Hoesman (Ellicott City, Md./Howard), one of only two seniors on this year's roster, picked up the 40th singles win of his career when he rallied from being down a set to defeat Jim Moore 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (5) at No. 2.

Elliot Diehl (York, Pa./York Suburban), the only freshman to crack the singles line-up for the season-opening match, earned a point for Goucher with his 6-0, 6-3 triumph over Marco Guerrero at No. 3. At No. 4, Midori Fujitani (Tokyo, Japan/International School Bangkok) pinned a 6-2, 6-0 setback on Manley Wong.

The remaining two singles matches couldn't be completed before darkness prevented play from continuing.

The Gophers (1-0) pulled off a sweep of the three doubles matches, starting with an 8-6 victory at No. 1 by Hoesman and Diehl over Cook and Moore. Fujitani and Hodges were 8-2 winners over Guerrero and Rafael Fernandes at No. 2; Josiah Meekins (Trenton, N.J./Princeton Day School) and Britt Shortle (Lake Mary, Fla./Trinity Preparatory School) came out on top, 8-3, over Wong and Harry Kapenstein at No. 3.

The loss was the first of the season for the Lions (2-1).

There are only two more dual matches on the fall portion of Goucher's 2015-16 schedule and both are scheduled for October 10. The first match that day is at home against Hood, starting at 11 a.m., after that, the Gophers face York at 2 p.m.