Gophers

Ali Moos has thrown back-to-back shutouts for the No. 10 Glen Burnie softball team. On Thursday, she threw a four-hitter, and on Friday, she no-hit host North County in a 5-0 victory. The Gophers (11-5) beat Chesapeake-AA, 4-0, on Thursday. On Friday, Moos, who threw 119pitches, struck out 13 but walked two. She went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a double, one of three extra-base hits by Glen Burnie. The Knights dropped to 4-10. No. 9 C. Milton Wright 9, Catonsville 0: Kyralee Comeaux struck out eight in her first varsity win, a one-hit shutout, as the host Mustangs (15-4)

Ali Moos has thrown back-to-back shutouts for the No. 10 Glen Burnie softball team. On Thursday, she threw a four-hitter, and on Friday, she no-hit host North County in a 5-0 victory. The Gophers (11-5) beat Chesapeake-AA, 4-0, on Thursday. On Friday, Moos, who threw 119pitches, struck out 13 but walked two. She went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a double, one of three extra-base hits by Glen Burnie. The Knights dropped to 4-10. No. 9 C. Milton Wright 9, Catonsville 0: Kyralee Comeaux struck out eight in her first varsity win, a one-hit shutout, as the host Mustangs (15-4)

Glen Burnie (6-2) has had a rough week as the metro area's No. 1 softball team. The Gophers lost, 11-6, to unranked Northeast on Tuesday, and host No. 8 Broadneck put together a five-run rally in the fourth Thursday to beat them, 5-1. Eagles right-hander Emilee Pslueger (4-3) gave up one unearned run in the first inning before settling down. She gave up six hits and two walks and struck out three. Broadneck's Nicole Blackwell hit an RBI double in the five-run fourth-inning rally.

Goucher, which wrapped up the top seed and home-field advantage in the upcoming Landmark Conference tournament, will conclude the regular season with Saturday's home contest against the Merchant Marine. The Mariners will visit Gopher Stadium again on Wednesday as Goucher's semifinal opponent in the conference tournament. Gophers coach Brian Kelly compared Saturday's game to a “dress rehearsal” for the tournament. “It's obviously a dress rehearsal for a game that will have a lot of significance for Wednesday,” he said Tuesday.

It took about five minutes for the Goucher College men's lacrosse team to rid itself of big-stage jitters in Saturday's Landmark Conference final. Once the Gophers settled into their game, however, visiting Catholic never had a chance. Playing before the largest home crowd in school history, they held the Cardinals scoreless for a mid-game stretch of more than 27 minutes, scoring seven straight goals in an 11-4 win. Goucher (14-3) earned an automatic bid to the 23-team NCAA Division III tournament and expects to learn its seeding and first-round opponent late today.

Glen Burnie's Melani Scharf broke an ankle two days before the state volleyball playoffs in 1988. She anguished on the sidelines as the Gophers bowed to six-time state Class 4A champion Thomas Wootton.Wootton wasn't around Saturday at Catonsville Community College, but Scharf was. The Gophers' senior captain helped her team to its first state title for coach Juanita Murdock-Milani. The Gophers defeated Oxon Hill, 16-14, 15-9, 15-6."I don't know if it was nerves, or what," said Scharf, trying to explain her team's first-game rally from a 13-2 deficit.

Glen Burnie's boys and girls soccer programs will have a different look next season. But the faces will be awfully familiar to the Gophers.Boys soccer coach Jon Van Orden will take over the girls program next fall, changing places with girls coach Ed Leibe, said athletic director Terry Bogle."

The Glen Burnie volleyball team usually doesn't take long to establish its rhythm.Once the Gophers do establish a rhythm -- like they did in disposing of Old Mill in a three-game, 45-minute span in Wednesday's regional playoff opener -- they usually don't take long to finish an opponent.The pattern had been similar all season to the tune of 45 straight games until the Gophers ran into Broadneck in Friday's Class 4A Region IV finals.Glen Burnie (16-0) finally won the title, 17-19, 15-7, 15-7, 15-3, but not before losing its first game of the season and getting a scare from the Bruins (13-3)

Every team has a nemesis and for No. 3 North County, it has been Glen Burnie.On the way to their first playoff berth last season, the Knights lost twice to the Gophers.The two teams split the year before when North County had its first winning season at 11-7 and missed the playoffs by a game.The time had come to put an end to the frustration, so coach Don Usewick used his ace, Mike Wooden when the two teams met yesterday at Glen Burnie.Result: Wooden throws a two-hitter with no walks and 14 strikeouts and an 8-0 victory for the No. 3 Knights (3-0)

Severna Park coach Tim Dunbar has ignored the preseason litany that swept the league concerning the inexperience of Glen Burnie's volleyball program.Basically, it went like this: "Glen Burnie's gonna get pummeled this year, because no starters return from last year's 18-0 Class 4A state champion volleyball squad, and Coach Juanita Milani is starting three freshmen.""I know they're starting from scratch, but from Juanita, they're learning the game right," said Dunbar, whose Falcons defeated the visiting Gophers, 15-2, 15-5, 16-14, Friday to improve to 8-0 overall, 6-0 against the county.

Graduation depleted Goucher of four starters - three on offense - and the program eventually bid farewell to the most successful coach in its history, but that did not prevent the team from extending its success in the Landmark Conference. Saturday's 7-6 overtime decision over Scranton cemented for the Gophers (7-7 overall and 5-0 in the league) the top seed and home-field advantage in the upcoming conference tournament with just one more league game against the Merchant Marine this Saturday.

When Kyle Boncaro and Rory Averett graduated last year as Goucher's all-time leader in points (273) and goals (190) respectively, the attack's cupboard appeared to be bare. But the unit has been rebuilt and is thriving again. Junior Max Roach ranks second on the team in both goals (17) and points (25), junior Dylan Zook leads the team in assists (16), and sophomore Sam Morgan is second in assists (14) and third in points (24). Senior Zachary Fratella ranks fifth in points (19)

When Goucher opened the season with a 13-9 victory over Birmingham-Southern, the initial thought was that the team that had captured two of the last three Landmark Conference tournaments might be able to extend that success under Kyle Hannan - who left for Division I Mercer - into 2013. The Gophers then dropped their next six contests before turning the tide with a 5-1 record over their last six games, and they are now tied with Scranton for first place in the conference with identical 4-0 marks.

When attackmen Rory Averett and Kyle Boncaro and midfielder Matt Lynch graduated after last season, Goucher lost more than 700 career points. So how would the offense respond in 2013? The team caught a glimpse Saturday in a 13-9 victory over Birmingham-Southern in which the offense scored 11 goals in the second half. Junior Pierce Ingram recorded four goals and two assists and senior Zachary Fratella posted three goals from the first midfield, and the starting attack of sophomore Sam Morgan, junior Max Roach and sophomore Dylan Zook combined for four goals and five assists.

New Town's Tiana Davis made two high-arcing free throws with 9.9 seconds left and the visiting Titans watched a desperation 3-point attempt go wide at the buzzer as they held on for a 48-45 victory over host Western Tech's girls basketball team Friday night. The win advanced the Titans (16-5, 11-0) to the Baltimore County title game for the second straight year. "We had to get that win and we had to make those foul shots," said Davis, whose only three points came from the foul line in the final 1:28.

Five months ago, Brian Kelly was tabbed to succeed Kyle Hannan at Goucher as head coach. Kelly, who had spent the previous five years as the team's top offensive assistant, now has the unenviable task of taking over a squad that won four consecutive Landmark Conference regular-season titles and two of the last three league tournament championships and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season under Hannan, who was 121-79 in...

It wasn't the same team he had been watching in practice the past couple weeks, but Glen Burnie coach Terry Bogle sure liked the way his Gophers looked in upsetting No. 4 Annapolis, 92-81, last night.Shawn Mahaney's 4-for-4 three-point shooting in the fourth quarter and point guard William Brown's steady play throughout enabled the Gophers to take their home and season opener. It was the second straight win for the Gophers over the Panthers (1-1) at Glen Burnie."They surprised the heck out of me with all those shaved heads and white head bands," said Bogle.

If No. 2 Glen Burnie had any chance of defeating Northern-Calvert in yesterday's Class 4A East Region final, it couldn't make mistakes. Nothing short of perfection would do.That was asking too much of the third-seeded Gophers, who gave up five unearned runs in the third inning and spent most of the day trying just to make contact against senior pitcher Kelly Shipman.Final score: Northern-Calvert 12, Glen Burnie 0.Shipman, who received a scholarship to the University of Maryland, still hasn't given up an earned run this spring.

Friday's entry is the sixth installment of a series taking a look at each of the eight Division III programs in this state according to their order of finish from last season. The Sun's lacrosse preview was published today. This is Goucher's turn. Overview: The Gophers enjoyed unprecedented success last year. The team went 18-2, captured its second Landmark Conference tournament crown in three seasons, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. But season's end brought the graduation of three of the program's most prolific scorers in attackmen Kyle Boncaro and Rory Averett and midfielder Matt Lynch.

Prior to getting a lower seed than Washington College - an opponent that Goucher had defeated, 8-6, on Feb. 25 - in the NCAA tournament for not fielding a terribly impressive strength of schedule, coach Kyle Hannan had already been working on beefing up the team's schedule for 2013. Next year's lineup of non-conference opponents will include several new additions in Stevenson, St. Mary's and McDaniel. Those three teams will be added to a group that already includes the Shoremen, Gettysburg, Mary Washington and Randolph Macon.