Season Recap: Gophers Make Major Strides in 2014

TOWSON, Md. — Goucher's 2013 season was marked by significant statistical improvement from the previous year, but those strides were not reflected in the win/loss column. The Gophers, though, continued their steady progress this fall, and they were rewarded with their most successful season in nearly two decades.

Goucher registered a 9-7 record in 2014, and the program also picked up a pair of Landmark wins for the first time since 2007. One of those conference victories came over regionally-ranked Juniata, a team which went on to become Landmark champions and reach the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"This was the season we had been building towards over the last three years," head coach Megan Williams said. "It feels like it went by so quickly, and I think a large part of that is because there were so many good things happening every day."

The Gophers had already surpassed the previous year's win total before their first Landmark matchup of the season, with the team taking a 5-2 record into its Sept. 27 contest at Moravian. Goucher fell behind 1-0 that afternoon, but Justine Ruhlin (Cornish, Maine/Sacopee Valley) tied things up on a last-minute penalty stroke and Lizzie Barminski (Ventura, Calif./Buena) gave the program its first conference win since 2010 with a game-winning strike 59 seconds into overtime.

The victory over the Landmark champion Eagles also came in thrilling fashion, as Emily Jewell (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) broke a scoreless tie with a double-overtime game-winner on Senior Day at Beldon Field. Ultimately, only a 2-1 defeat to Scranton, a game in which the Gophers led at halftime, prevented the program from qualifying for the Landmark postseason tournament.

OFFENSE

In Williams' first season at the helm back in 2012, Goucher scored a total of 13 goals. This fall, the Gophers had almost that many goal scorers, as 12 players combined to score 37 goals.

"I think the fact that we had 12 different players who scored really speaks volumes to the depth of the roster," Williams said. "You've got players who are in roles where traditionally you would expect them to score. But we also had some underclassmen who were able to come in and contribute right away. The progress starts from the bottom up."

Thirteen of those goals came from Ruhlin, who also added four assists and earned Second-Team All-Landmark recognition in her final season as a Gopher. No player had scored that many times in a season since Goucher's 1995 NCAA tournament-bound team, when Michele Mohlman also had 13 strikes.

Barminski, another Second-Team All-Landmark selection, followed with six goals while Rachel Crain (Charlotte Hall, Md./Chopticon) had five. Jewell and Annie Carter (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) chipped in three apiece and seven Gophers added solo strikes.

After being shutout 17 times over the previous two seasons, Goucher was blanked only twice this fall.

"One thing that I liked was that in a large majority of our games, we were scoring up until the last minute," Williams commented. "No matter how important those goals were, that just shows that we were able to stay motivated for the full 70 minutes. I think that's a really important stat."

DEFENSE

While the Gopher offense has raised its goal total by double digits in each of the last two years, the defense has had similar success in the opposite direction. After surrendering 67 tallies in 2012, that number was reduced to 44 last fall, and when the 2014 campaign ended Goucher had allowed only 27 goals.

That gave the program a +10 goal differential, a dramatic improvement from years past. The Gophers held opponents to two goals or fewer in 12 out of 16 games.

"We got into a defensive rhythm before the start of conference play," Williams remarked. "A lot of that was due to great communication, which was led in the back by Danielle Hallacker (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Twp.). She has really stepped up into the role of knowing where everybody needs to be and being loud enough to communicate that on the field."

The defensive improvement was also evident in shots on goal, as Goucher allowed nearly 100 fewer attempts to make it to primary goalkeeper Demie Huffman (Granville, Ohio/Granville). The junior responded with new career highs in save percentage (.758) and goals-against average (1.48), and she was recognized as the Landmark Defensive Player of the Week after blanking Juniata in October.

"Demie really came into her own as a junior," Williams said. "It's been very nice to see her continue to progress each season. I thought Liz Zengel (Smithfield, Va./Smithfield) also did an outstanding job in the final game against Susquehanna. She took advantage of that opportunity to start and played like an upperclassmen goalkeeper."

LOOKING AHEAD

The Gophers will miss the production of Ruhlin, along with fellow seniors Emily Gill (White Hall, Md./North Harford) and Erica Shellem (Albany, Calif./The College Preparatory School), but next year's squad will have plenty to build on after underclassmen accounted for seven of the typical 11 starting spots this fall.

"Obviously we'll miss our three seniors, but we have such a strong returning base," Williams said. "There's a great opportunity for us to do extremely well in the conference, and we were able to begin to prove that to ourselves this year."

Goucher accomplished many things this fall which had not been done since the mid-1990s. Now that the bar has been raised, the program will hope to return to the consistent level of success which was seen during that era.

"We're not just looking to break records from the past," Williams concluded. "We're trying to build a consistently strong program with the ultimate goal of getting to and winning the Landmark championship. That's something that I know the returners are very invested in working towards."