Gophers Finish with 7-1 Run, Put Away Presidents

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Goucher outscored Washington & Jefferson, 7-1, over the final 26 minutes this afternoon, turning a one-goal deficit into an 11-6 victory that prevented the Gophers from falling two games out of first place in the Landmark Conference.

Despite a 24-11 edge in shots, head coach Brian Kelly's squad found itself locked in a 4-4 draw with the Presidents (7-2, 1-1 Landmark) at the end of the first half. Sam Morgan (Wilmot, N.H./Kearsarge Regional) tallied his team-leading 17th goal of the season in the opening quarter, which ended with the Gophers in front 2-1.

In the second quarter, Owen Demmerly (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) stuck an unassisted goal to provide the Gophers (6-3, 1-1 Landmark) with a 3-1 lead. Later in the period, Conner Annunziato (West Chester, Pa./Bayerd Rustin), who opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 6:48 into the contest, picked up his 17th assist of the season on a goal by Sam Woodruff (Glen Ridge, N.J./Kent School).

Washington & Jefferson assumed its first lead of the contest on a goal by Tim Angell 3:23 into the third quarter that snapped the 4-all tie, but just over three minutes later, Annunziato evened the score once again with his 10th goal of the season.

Will Brennan (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) not only broke the 5-5 tie, but also put Goucher ahead to stay with his goal at 6:41 of the third quarter. That was enough time for the Gophers to tack on a goal by Pierce Bailey (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and another one by Brennan, which gave them an 8-5 advantage heading into the fourth period.

Goucher continued to add to its lead in the final quarter, starting with a goal by Woodruff at 13:42, which was followed by a goal by Leo Sementilli (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) at 11:37. Bailey's unassisted goal at 5:31 was the seventh straight goal for the Gophers and it made the score 11-5. Washington & Jefferson's only goal in the fourth period was a harmless man-down tally by Kyle Heinig with 41 seconds left to play.

By game's end, Goucher had more than twice as many shots as its opponent (46-22) and three times as many ground balls (42-14). The Gophers won 14 of the 20 faceoffs with Andrew Schwartz (San Antonio, Texas/St. Mary's Hall) successful on eight of the 11 he handled and Chris Lasprogata (Ardmore, Pa./Harriton) giving his team possession of the ball on six of his eight attempts.

Karl Wiszumerski (Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School) played all 60 minutes in goal for Goucher and made nine saves, six of them in the third quarter. For the Presidents, Jacob Succophad had nine saves to his credit by the end of the first period and finished with a total of 23.

The Gophers, who are 1-2 at home in 2015, will get a visit from Drew one week from today. The game, which begins at 12 noon, is tentatively set for Gopher Stadium.