Gophers Earn First Shutout, Clinch No. 1 Seed
70-5 Advantage in Shots Leads to 18-0 Win Over Crusaders
April 24, 2009
TOWSON, Md. – In the 18-year history of Goucher's men's
lacrosse program, the Gophers had never unleashed as many as 70
shots in a game and had never shut out an opponent – until
today.
The extraordinary combination of a 70-shot attack and a defense
that limited Susquehanna to no goals on only five shots produced an
18-0 victory that officially made the Gophers the No. 1 seed in
next week's Landmark Conference championship tournament.
Even though they outshot the Crusaders, 17-0, in the opening
quarter, the Gophers were only ahead 3-0 after 15 minutes. Senior
midfielder Brian Hoge (Crofton, Md./Arundel) put
Goucher (10-4, 5-1 Landmark) ahead 1-0 and the other two goals in
the first period were scored by freshman attackman Rory
Averett (Ivyland, Pa./Council Rock North).
Hoge scored twice in the second quarter, which ended with the
Gophers leading 7-0.
The Gophers erupted for nine goals in the third period, four of
them by senior attackman Sam Fitzpatrick (Littleton,
Colo./Arapahoe).
Averett tallied the final goal of the contest with 9:42 left to
play. It was his team-leading 35th of the season.
Fitzpatrick finished with five goals, giving him 31 for the season
and 89 for his career.
In addition to scoring twice, freshman attackman Kyle
Boncaro (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) was awarded assists on six
of Goucher's goals, one shy of the single-game school record. He
leads the Gophers in assists (33) and points (61).
The Gophers had previously held four opponents to a single goal:
Stevenson in 1994, York and Marymount in 2003 and Catholic in 2008.
Two goalkeepers combined on the shutout as senior Austin
Main (Berlin, Md./Stephen Decatur) played the first half,
faced two shots and made one save and junior Chris
Stricklin (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) came in and
turned away one of the three shots the Crusaders (5-11, 0-6
Landmark) got off in the second half.
The shutout, according to head coach Kyle Hannan, was a total team
effort.
"I told the guys after the game that you have to credit our
attackman for the way they rode, limiting the number of possessions
Susquehanna had," he said. "The midfielders did their part by
matching up, taking the transition away. Our defensemen played
solid on-ball defense, which is what we expect out of them."
The former record for shots in a game was 66, set against Hood in
2007.
Goucher won't know its opponent (Drew or Scranton) until Saturday,
but will host one of Wednesday's two semifinals in Gopher Stadium.