Overtime Thriller Leads to Sudden Victory for Shenandoah

BALTIMORE, MD - The Goucher College Gophers (0-5 overall) hosted the Hornets of Shenandoah University (2-3 overall) on Beldon Tuesday evening. The game was tied at the end of regulation, leading to an overtime period. The Hornets finished the game with seconds left in overtime to win 13-12. 

Shenandoah opened the game with the faceoff, recording three early shots. The Hornets finally broke through at the 12:21 mark, earning the first goal of the contest. Goucher capitalized on a turnover, with Jacob Morgan finishing the shot a minute later. The game fell into an almost five-minute scoreless drought before Morgan broke through once again to put the Gophers up with 7:07 remaining in the first. The Gophers continued on the offensive, adding another goal less than two minutes later from Eli Jean-Jacques off a feed from Morgan. The Hornets added the final goal of the quarter with 14 seconds left to bring the score to 3-2 in the second.

The second opened with a quick save from Josh Steinmiller in the first 10 seconds. The Hornets failed on a clear, resulting in a quick goal from Jean-Jacques (13:15). Aaron Butera won the ensuing faceoff and passed to Gianni Karam, who scored instantly, giving Goucher a 5-2 lead. A minute later, Karam added a second off the feed from Morgan. Shenandoah rallied back with two goals within seconds of each other to bring the Hornets back in the game. Scott Tayman got the ball back for the Gophers after a caused turnover, which led to a goal for Kevin Gearhart, from a Morgan pass. The game fell scoreless for three minutes before Shenandoah added its fifth of the game with five minutes left in the second. The final goal of the half came from the Hornets at the 1:40 mark to bring the score to 7-6 at halftime.

The Gophers began the half on the man-up, but the Hornets ran the time out on the penalty, using their possession to tie the game at seven each (11:35). For almost 10 minutes, the game remained tied, featuring 11 combined shots, before Karam broke through, bringing the Gophers to eight. Shenandoah responded off the face off to tie the game once again, 30 seconds later. With 40 seconds left in the game, Milan Temple finished another goal, before the Hornets tied the game with seconds left, bringing the game to nine each.

Shenandoah carried the offensive momentum into the fourth, adding two goals in the first three minutes. Temple ended the scoring run for the Hornets, and Morgan added an additional goal a minute later to bring the score even once again at 11. With 5:43 left in the game, Morgan finished his fourth of the contest, giving the Gophers the lead once again. Two minutes later, the Hornets responded, which led to the game being tied at the end of regulation.

Shenandoah began the overtime period with possession, recording two quick shots, both stopped by Steinmiller. The Gophers added shots, but were not able to finish. The Hornets ran the clock down, scoring the sudden victory goal with three seconds left in the period to win 13-12.

Morgan led the team with nine points off four goals and five assists, Karam followed behind with three points off three goals. Steinmiller led with five groundballs, and Jack Schiavone followed closely behind with four. Nick Gambone led the defense with four caused turnovers. Eight additional players recorded a caused turnover, totaling 12 in the game. Steinmiller added 64 minutes in net, recording 14 saves. Butera went 3-15 on the faceoff, while Mason Wolf went 2-11, and junior Sean Phillips went 0-2.  

The team is back in action on Saturday, March 7th for a 12pm game against Marymount (VA), which will be their Cancer Awareness Game.