Tie with Greyhounds Ends Gophers' Playoff Hopes, Season

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Goucher has essentlally been in "comeback mode" ever since getting off to an 0-3 start in the Landmark Conference this season, but the Gophers pulled off victories over Catholic and Susquehanna over the past 11 days to put themselves in a position where they would make the conference playoffs with a victory over Moravian today.

So when head coach Tati Korba's squad trailed the Greyhounds, 2-0, before even getting off its first shot this afternoon, the Gophers became determined not to go down without a fight. By the end of the first half, they had evened the score at 2-2 thanks to goals by Stephanie Budrock (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) and Moriah Sipiczky (Holiday, Fla./Anclote).

Moravian regained the lead less than 10 minutes into the second half, but once again Goucher wasn't ready to throw in the towel. Brooke Merchant (Gaithersburg, Md./Thomas S. Wootton) tallied her first goal of the season at 59:25, creating a 3-3 tie.

Neither team was able to break the deadlock over the final 30:35 of regulation, although Goucher did have a goal called back in the 70th minute by a not-so-evident offside violation. Two 10-minute overtime periods couldn't resolve the issue either so the final result was a 3-3 tie that ended the Gophers' hopes of making the playoffs.

"I'm really proud of how we played today, particularly after falling behind early on the road. Twice we fought back to tie the game and our three goals came from three freshmen in the biggest game of the year," Korba said after the contest concluded. "We've just played three must-win Landmark Conference games in a row and we came out with two wins and a tie. That left us one point shy of making the playoffs, which says something about how close we are, as a program, to being a team that competes in the Landmark Conference playoffs, which is always our goal".

Goals by Kristen Schall at 4:26 and 16:29 provided the Greyhounds (7-9-3, 2-2-2 Landmark) with their early 2-0 advantage, but the Gophers got one of them back when Samantha Turner (Vineland, N.J./Vineland) set up Budrock's second goal of the season at 16:46.

With under two minutes remaining in the first half, a long ball by Gaby Davis (New York, N.Y./LaGuardia) got through, setting up a breakaway for Sipiczky, who drilled the ball under the keeper for her second goal of the 2013 campaign.

Schall picked up her fifth point of the contest with an assist on a goal by Christine Miklas at 54:58 that put Moravian back in front, but Goucher drew even on Merchant's goal that was assisted by Davis.

The Greyhounds accounted for six of the seven shots the two teams managed during overtime. The only shot attempted by the Gophers (7-9-2, 2-3-1 Landmark) in OT was taken by Merchant in the opening minute of the second extra session, but Jacqueline Zalis, the second of two goalkeepers that saw action for Moravian, made the save.

Juliana Harkavy (Memphis, Tenn./Ridgeway), who went the distance in goal for Goucher, wound up with eight saves, including one in OT.