Gophers Rally Back for Win Over Greyhounds

BALTIMORE, MD - The Goucher College Gophers (7-8 overall, 4-3 conference) hosted the Greyhounds of Moravian University on Wednesday afternoon. Goucher rallied back from a four-goal deficit to secure a 12-9 win.

Moravian opened the contest with an early goal within a minute of the competition. The Gophers rallied with Aaron Butera earning the ball back following a caused turnover, which led to Goucher's first goal from Eli Jean-Jacques (12:11). Moravian won the following faceoff, but Nick Gambone won the ball back after causing a turnover. This quickly led to a goal from Gianni Karam from Jacob Morgan. The Greyhounds responded 30 seconds later to tie the game up at two with just over nine minutes left on the clock. After a series of shots from Moravian, which forced Josh Steinmiller to make key saves, they finally broke through to reclaim the lead with just over six minutes left. The Greyhounds capitalized on a turnover to add another goal minutes later. Steinmiller added two more saves to close out the quarter with two more saves, putting the score at 4-2 heading into the second.

The Greyhounds' offense carried the momentum from the first into the second, adding a pair of shots before they found the back of the net once again (11:44). They quickly added another goal less than two minutes later to give them the 6-2 lead. The Gophers began their comeback when Jean-Jacques finished a pass from Morgan at the 7:19 mark. Just under 20 seconds later, Jack Schiavone scooped a groundball and went coast-to-coast for his first career goal. Morgan added the Gophers' fifth over a minute later to bring the team within one. Moravian ended the Gophers' run with 2:47 on the clock, to carry the 7-5 lead at half. 

The first three and a half minutes featured two shots, one from each team, before Jean-Jacques opened the scoring in the half. Steinmiller made a save, which led to a goal from Karam off a pass from Jean-Jacques (8:49). Just under two minutes later, the Greyhounds broke the tie once again to reclaim the lead. Moravian had three consecutive attempts in less than a minute before Goucher reclaimed possession, and went down the field for another goal from Jean-Jacques off a pass from Morgan. Butera won the ensuing faceoff, leading to a goal from Morgan seconds later. Karam and Morgan teamed up to close out the scoring of the quarter, putting the Gophers ahead 10-8.

Steinmiller opened the fourth recording a quick save, before Goucher went on the offensive. Karam and Jean-Jacques extended the Gophers' lead with 12:28 left in the contest. The Greyhounds offense attempted to break through, but caused turnovers from Schiavone and Jason Luk, and saves from Steinmiller kept Moravian off the board. James Dean fed a pass to Karam for the Gophers final goal of the contest. The play remained neutral until the Greyhounds final goal came with two seconds on the clock. This brought the final score to 12-9.

Jean-Jacques and Morgan led the team with six points each. Karam followed closely behind with five points. Schiavone led with five groundballs, while also adding a caused turnover. Gambone led the defense with two caused turnovers. 

Steinmiller added all 60 minutes in net, with 16 saves off 25 shots. The faceoff team went 6-25, with Butera earning all six wins (6-22), while Temple went 0-2 and Mason Wolf added 0-1. 

Moravian outshot the Gophers, 46-33, and grabbed more groundballs (27-22). The clears were close, with Goucher going 22-25, and the Greyhounds going 14-15. 

The team travels to face Elizabethtown on Saturday, April 18th at 1pm.