BETHANY, W.V. - On Saturday, the Cougars (3-3 1-0 PAC) opened conference play with a road trip to West Virginia to take on the Bethany College Bison (1-7 0-1 PAC). The Cougars got ahead early with a big first half and held their lead through, winning 17-4.

The Cougars took the offensive early scoring five goals in the first quarter and scoring the first eight goals of the game. The Bison could not get on the board until there was under 1 ½ minutes left to play in the opening half. The Cougars took an 8-1 lead into halftime as Bailey Donofrio scored four first half goals and Tessa Hueber scored a pair. In the third quarter, the Bison struck first cutting the Cougars lead to six goals. The Cougars answered back when Donofrio and Erin Goodwin scored back-to-back goals in less than 30 seconds. That pushed the lead for the Cougars back to eight, 10-2. The Cougars then scored four unanswered goals to end the third quarter leading 14-2. In the fourth quarter, the Cougars outscored the Bison 3-2 including Lily Schmear scoring her first career goal as the Cougars won by a final score of 17-4.

The Cougars were led by Donofrio who had 5 goals and one assist while Hueber who had 4 goals and 2 assists. Goodwin added 3 goals and 3 assists, she also led the team with 4 ground balls and forced 1 turnover. Allison Venanzi, Hueber, Dani MacConnell and Elizabeth Gallup all tied to lead the team in caused turnovers with 2. The Cougars had a trio of goaltenders play; Meghan Cruza-Berry, Sam Barrett and Payton Subeck. They combined for eight saves and a 66.6% save rate.

The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday March 26th, when they host their first conference game of the season against Franciscan at 7 PM.