Bracket Revealed: Gophers Draw Shoremen in First Round

Winner Advances to Play Defending Division III Champion

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Goucher learned its opponent in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship when the bracket for the 28-team tournament was revealed tonight: Washington (Md.).

The Gophers (17-1), who secured an automatic bid to the tournament as champions of the Landmark Conference, will take on the Shoremen (11-5) Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Chestertown, Md. The winner will advance to the second round where it will face Salisbury, the defending Division III national champion, on Saturday, May 12.

The Shoremen, out of the Centennial Conference, received one of the seven at-large bids to the tournament.

Goucher will be making only its second appearance in the Division III playoffs. The Gophers also went to the tournament as the Landmark Conference champions in 2010, but they lost to Middlebury, 10-6, in the opening round.

The Gophers faced three of the teams that made the tournament during the regular season, including Washington. They defeated the Shoremen, 8-6, on Feb. 25, but still trail the all-time series between the two in-state rivals, 2-1.

The other two tournament entries that were on Goucher's 2012 schedule are Gettysburg, another member of the Centennial Conference which secured an at-large bid, and Eastern, which captured the Middle Atlantic Conference title. The Gophers lost to the Bullets, 8-5, on Feb. 29, but since they have reeled off 14 consecutive victories, including a 13-7 triumph over the Eagles on April 4.

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Live stats for Wednesday's game will be available here and live video can be found here.