Pittsburgh, Pa. - On Wednesday, the Cougars (0-1) hosted the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets (1-0) for the season opener and lost a back and forth game by a final score of 16-13.

The Cougars took an early 1-0 lead when Jacob Lubawy scored an unassisted goal two minutes into the game. That would be the only lead the Cougars would have in the game as the Yellow Jackets scored the next three goals and took a 3-1 lead that they never relinquished. The Cougars would tie the game multiple times throughout the game, including an 8-8 tie at halftime. 

The Cougars were led by Tanner Marsh and Thomas Whittaker who had four points each. Marsh scored four goals and Whittakerhad three goals and one assist. Cody Randal and Jack Neal each had five ground balls to lead the team. Randal also took the majority of the faceoffs for the Cougars winning 13. Zen Smith and Brett Zaruba split time in net for the Cougars and made a combined 10 saves. Smith making six and Zaruba corralling four.

The Cougars fell behind early, ending the first quarter down 5-3. In the second quarter, the Cougars flipped the script outsourcing the Yellow Jackets 5-3 to tie the game at 8-8 headed into halftime. Despite the Yellow Jackets best efforts to pull away the Cougars stayed in the game and tied the game 11-11 in the third quarter. However, after that the Yellow Jackets outscored the Cougars 4-2 to finish the third quarter and both teams only managed one goal a piece in the fourth quarter, making the final score 16-13 in favor of the Yellow Jackets.

The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday February 15th at 1 PM when they host Muskingum at UPMC Graham Field.