Gilman’s defense shuts out Loyola

Senior forward Ryan Tucker and junior midfielder Cotter Brown each netted a goal as the No. 6 Gilman soccer team toppled No. 7 Loyola, 2-0, on Tuesday afternoon.

Both scores came midway through the first half and the Greyhound defense played an aggressive game, shutting out the Dons’ offense.

“Loyola is a very talented team. Lee [Tschantret] always has his kids playing hard,” said Gilman coach Jon Seal.  “They pose some matchup problems for us but I thought that we adjusted and fought hard.”

Gilman improved to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA A Conference with the win.  Loyola drops to 1-2, 0-1 respectively.

Tucker scored the first goal of the game in the 21st minute after teammate Jake Matthai pulled the goalie up and tipped the ball to him. Tucker then put it home into the open net.

Just three minutes later, the Greyhounds added another to the scoreboard.  This time, Brown made an amazing individual effort and showed tenacity to complete the goal.

Tanner Vosvick sent the ball in off of a free kick and Brown shot it.  Loyola goalie Mike Hackett (eight saves) made the stop but Brown collected the loose ball.  He headed it off the crossbar but got that rebound as well and finally finished to give Gilman the two goal lead.

“Ryan Tucker and Jake Matthai came off the side and gave us a boast of energy after creating the first goal,” said Seal.  “We were then able to ride the momentum into the second goal.”

Loyola had several good scoring opportunities but had a couple of shots bounce off of the crossbar and several more sail wide of the goal.  In the times when the Dons came close to putting one in, junior goalie Andrew Harris (10 saves) was there to stuff it.

“The strength of our team is in the back and we depend heavily on the four guys that are in front of me,” said Harris. 

Those four guys in the defensive third for Gilman are junior Christian Wulff and sophomore Tanner Vosvick at the center back position, freshman Sam Wancowicz at right back and junior Mike Dunbar, who plays on the left.  They all played strong games on Tuesday.

“We’re a team that’s not going to give up many goals,” said Seal.  “We have the best goalie in the Country and he is going to keep the ball out of the net for us.  We were very fortunate in getting two goals and kept a very talented and dangerous Loyola team off the board.”

The conference race heats up for both teams this week as the Greyhounds will host John Carroll and Loyola host No. 1 Mount St. Joseph.  Both games will be held Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.