Goucher
- Nov 7, 2021
- 4 min read
Goucher Gophers (5-20 in '19-'20) vs. McDaniel Green Terror (10-15 in '19-'20)
Friday, November 5, 2021 @ 7:00 PM
Towson, MD
Decker Sports & Recreation Center
THE SCHOOL
Goucher (GOW-chur) College is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1885, the school enrolls about 2,000 students and has an endowment of $191.4 million. Goucher was founded as women's college, only becoming coeducational in 1986. Campus still leans female as about seventy percent of students are women. Interestingly, Goucher requires 100% of its undergraduate students to study abroad, which is pretty cool.
The Goucher Gophers compete in the Landmark Conference in NCAA Division III. The Gophers did not play in the 2020-21 season, so this is the first Gopher game in their home gym since February 15, 2020.
McDaniel College is a private liberal arts college in Westminster, Maryland. The McDaniel Green Terror are part of the Centennial Conference in NCAA Division III. If you're looking for for great nickname matchups, it's hard to do better than Gophers vs. Green Terror.
THE TOWN
This story begins like so many in the D.C.-Baltimore area: with traffic.
There are two ways to get to Towson from where I live. You can take I-95 and go west of Baltimore or take Highway 295 and go east. It's fastest to take the Interstate, but Google Maps informed me there was a huge slowdown there, so that was out. There was also a huge slowdown on 295, but less of one, so that's the route I took. Regardless, it's just about forty-five miles of highway driving that took an hour and twenty minutes.
Highway 295 (locally known as the Baltimore-Washington Parkway) is actually a pretty nice road. It's a four-lane divided highway that's surrounded by trees and runs directly between the two cities. It's kind of a nice road, just frequently busy.
Towson is one of the major suburbs of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, Towson has a population of just under 60,000 and it's the capital of Baltimore County. Probably because it's an affluent suburb within close proximity to Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia, several famous people have lived in Towson. Former pro quarterback Johnny Unitas lived there during and after his stint with the Baltimore Colts; Michael Phelps grew up there and went to Towson High School; F. Scott Fitzgerald had a stint there late in his life; and - you know the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine gets thrown out of a Yankees game for wearing an Orioles hat? In that episode, it is revealed that Elaine Benes is also from Towson.
Before the game, I stopped at Burger Bros. near Towson Town Center. They're a Five Guys-style establishment, but honestly, Burger Bros. is both tastier and cheaper. Trust me, the burger tasted every bit as good as it looks, so I hope to be back.
Goucher's campus is on Towson's northern edge and has just one entrance to campus grounds. Because of this, it feels fairly removed from the rest of the Baltimore area. It seems like a nice little campus - lots of green space and very pedestrian friendly. It was late at night and surprisingly cold so I didn't see much of Goucher, but it felt charming.
The Gophers play in Decker Sports & Recreation Center. Their whole athletics area is all the way at the back of campus from the Goucher Road entrance, so it takes a few minutes before you can even tell where the basketball gym is. With its stone facade and seemingly low ceiling, you might not know Decker is a basketball gym without prior knowledge. Inside the building, however, there's no mistake. You walk through the doors and to the right, and there's the gym floor. It's an intimate space with just about ten rows of seating that are right against the sideline, but it's exactly what you expect at a D-III basketball game.
THE GAME
Allison and I got to the game about ten minutes before it started. I'm trying to go more women's basketball games this time around. This is for two reasons: 1) it's good to support women's athletics and 2) it gives me twice as many options of games to go to. This was the first regular game in the area for either gender, so this one was an easy first choice.
I know it doesn't look like it in the picture above, but it was actually a really good crowd. Particularly, McDaniel College is only located about twenty-five miles away. Their fans must travel pretty well because a large portion of the crowd rooted for the Green Terror, somewhat nullifying Goucher's homecourt advantage. Regardless of who they rooted for, the stands on my side of the court were fairly full, which is always nice to experience.
~~
This game can be summed up by this note I jotted down at some point in the third quarter:
"lotta airballs"
It was the first game either team had played in twenty-and-a-half months, and you could tell. It was a sloppy game, particularly by Goucher. The Gophers shot just 22 percent from the field and didn't make a three-point shot until late in the fourth quarter. It must have been difficult to watch for Gopher fans.
The Gophers' brightest spot came from #34, Julia Cavoli. Cavoli scored ten points (including the lone three-pointer) and was the only Goucher player who got into any offensive rhythm. For McDaniel, #30, Natalie Mehl (made some big threes) and #35, Meggie Burgess (scored 17 points) made big impacts off the bench.
Overall, it wasn't the the worst basketball game I've seen, but it certainly wasn't the best.
Final: McDaniel 52, Goucher 35
For this project, I'm going to try to see as many teams in Maryland, D.C., and the D.C. metro area I can. I've counted thirty-seven or so teams I'd like to see which is far too many to visit in one season. I don't really know how long I'll live in the area and my work schedule currently has me working some weekends and late afternoons (which is when basketball is played), so I'm just going to see as much as I can.
Regardless of how much I see this season, this is something I've been looking to for about a year and a half, so I'm very happy to get back to it.
Hope you enjoyed it - I'll try to get another post up next week.
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