Gophers Dominate Warriors on the Road

WILLIAMSPORT, PA - The Goucher College Gophers (5-8 overall; 2-3 conference) traveled to face the Warriors of Lycoming College on Wednesday afternoon. The Gophers dominant performance was capped by a 20-4 win featuring seven different Goucher players recording a point.

The Gophers opened the contest with Aaron Butera winning the faceoff and storming down the field. Under a minute in, Gianni Karam added the first goal of the competition, with Milan Temple recording the assist. The Warriors earned the ball back after a save and forced Josh Steinmiller to action at the 12:28 mark. A minute later, the Gophers responded with a goal from Jacob Morgan. The game fell into a scoring stalemate, which saw seven combined shots, before Morgan added Goucher's third, off a feed from Karam. With less than a minute left, Scott Tayman beat the goalie from a Morgan assist to close out the scoring, giving Goucher the 4-0 lead heading into the second.

Lycoming began the second quarter with possession following a Goucher penalty, but a groundball from Jack Schiavone gave the Gophers the ball back. This led to a goal from Karam off a Cole Smith pass seconds later. The ball remained in neutral play for a few minutes before Mason Bowler caused a turnover, leading to a goal from Tayman. Butera won the ensuing faceoff and fed the ball to Karam, who added the Gophers' seventh nine seconds later. Goucher capitalized on a man-up opportunity, with James Dean finding the back of the net. Nick Gambone caused a turnover and grabbed the groundball for Goucher, clearing the ball for a goal from Kevin Gearhart, assisted by Morgan. Over the next minute and a half, Karam added three to the board for Goucher, with Morgan earning two assists, and Jack Murdaugh adding one. Lycoming added the final goal of the half with less than a minute left, bringing the score to 12-1. 

The second half opened with a save from Steinmiller. Seconds later, Karam opened the scoring of the half, off a feed from Schiavone. Karam and Morgan added the next two goals, putting the Gophers at 15 with 8:15 on the clock. Over three minutes, Lycoming added three shots, but were unable to break through, before Temple won the ball back for the Gophers, which led to a Karam goal assisted by Murdaugh. Morgan added the next two in just over a minute to put the score at 18-1. After the first, James Czarnaski entered as the goalie.

Morgan added his next goal of the contest, just over a minute into the final quarter. Lycoming broke their scoring drought with 12:08 on the clock after winning the ball back off a save. Despite a save from Czarnaski, the Gophers found the back of the net once again four minutes later. The game fell scoreless over the next five minutes, which featured three combined shots, including one from Ruddy Sampson. However, it was Temple who found the back of the net, off an assist from Karam with 3:23 on the clock. Following this goal, William Muncy entered the game in goal and recorded his first save of the contest with 26 seconds left. The Warriors capped the scoring of the competition with 17 seconds on the clock. 

Karam and Morgan led the team with 12 points each. This came off nine goals and three assists from Karam and six goals and assists for Morgan. Eight different Gophers recorded a caused turnover for the team's total. Butera dominated the field with 13 groundballs, while Gambone and Schiavone followed behind with six.

The faceoff team had a strong performance, with Butera going 18-25, while Mason Wolf went 2-2. Steinmiller earned the win with eight saves off nine shots and 40:14 in net. Czarnaski followed wth three saves off five shots with 16:23 in net. Muncy rounded out the goalies with 3:23 of game play and one save off two shots.

The Gophers held the statistical advantage, outshooting the Warriors, 54-31, going perfect on the clear attempts (23-23), and grabbing more ground balls 43-23. 

The team returns to action on Saturday, April 11th for a 1pm faceoff, following the senior day celebration.