Ben Smith Notches First Career Hat Trick In Loss To Randolph-Macon

BALTIMORE, Md. – Goucher College falls to Randolph-Macon College in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Saturday.

Ben Smith (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley) paced the Gophers with his first career hat trick. Smith registered his first collegiate goal and only score until Saturday against Immaculata on April 18, 2019. The sophomore played in eight games last season before joining the starting lineup in 2020.

Matt Woodson (Timonium, Md./McDonough) added two tallies and an assist. Woodson recorded his 12th multi-goal performance of his career and his 17th game with at least three points.

Rashaan Evans (Salisbury, Md./Parkside), Jared Heath (Windham, N.H./New Hampton) and Andrew Sade (Lewisberry, Pa,./Northern York) registered a goal and an assist each for the Gophers. It was the fourth time Evans has had at least one goal and one assist while it was the sixth time Heath turned the trick and the third time for Sade.

Goucher jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Heath twinkled the twine unassisted at 11:42 with the shot clock running out. After Randolph-Macon scored the next four markers, Smith caused a turnover, picked up the ground ball and fired the ball into the netting with 44 seconds left in the first quarter to trim the margin to 4-2.

The Gophers scored consecutive goals to cut the deficit to 7-4. Sade took a pass from Kyle Ramos (Silver Spring, Md./Bethesda Chevy Chase) and then the senior took a couple of steps before riffling the ball into the top netting at 9:51. Smith scored for the second time on the day off a feed by Evans at 5:52. The Yellow Jackets would score the final two goals of the half to take a 9-4 lead at halftime.

Woodson got the scoring started in the second half with his first score of the afternoon at 11:50. Goucher would score back-to-back tallies for a second time in the contest after Heath found Woodson at 7:33 and Evans registered an unassisted marker with 4:43 left to cut the margin to 11-7.

Julian Schemm (Sykesville, Md./Century) notched his first collegiate goal off a Woodson pass with 5:29 left in the fourth and Smith completed his hat trick off a feed from Sade with 4:46 remaining.

Nick Patterson (East Lansing, Mich./Damonte Ranch) paced the Gophers with six ground balls while Steven Mancha (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) tallied three ground balls and a caused turnovers. In addition to his first collegiate assist, Ramos added three ground balls. 

Justin Lugo (Davie, Fla./Saint Andrews School) made 12 saves in 42:55 minutes of work while Alex Shields (Lutherville, Md./Calvert Hall) made his 2020 debut with seven saves in the final 17:05 of the game.

Yellow Jackets head coach J.B. Sheridan was the defensive coordinator for Goucher for two seasons including the 2010 Landmark Conference Championship team. Randolph-Macon defeated the Gophers 18-9.

Goucher returns to action on Wednesday for its first road game of the season at McDaniel College. Game time is 4 p.m.