PITTSBURGH, PA - On Saturday the Cougars (6-4, 1-0 PAC) took the field to start their conference season with a matchup against the Presidents of Washington and Jefferson (4-6, 0-2 PAC). If there was any doubt about the outcome of this game the Cougars erased it early scoring 11 goals in the opening quarter. That led to an easy 28-7 record-breaking victory on Senior Day.

The first quarter got started with Jacob Lubawy scoring an unassisted goal just over a minute into the game. Tanner Marsh got in on the scoring just 25 seconds later when he scored on an assist from Liam Rooney. The two linked up again for Marsh's second goal of the day a minute later. The Presidents got on the board three minutes in, scoring their only goal of the first quarter. A minute later, Marsh found the back of the net for the third time, this time assisted by Ethan Joshi. Five minutes into the game, Rooney scored his first goal of the game on an unassisted goal. Ethan Rinker scored his first goal of the game assisted by Ben Keller, his first career point. That put the Cougars ahead 6-1 with eight minutes left in the first frame. Thomas Whitaker then found the back of the net with a pair of goals with three and two minutes left in the quarter for his first two goals of the day. Lubawy assisted on the first and Rooney on the second. Ethan Rinker then got in on the action scoring the third fastest back-to-back goals in D3 history, five seconds. His first goal was assisted by Isaac Joshi and the second by Cody Randal. Those were the Cougars ninth and tenth goals of the game. The final goal of the quarter was scored by Sean Creeden assisted by Owen Millar. That put the Cougars ahead 11-1 as the teams left the field.

While the Cougars did not score 11 goals in the second quarter, they tried and ended with ten. It started when Whitaker scored his third goal of the first half assisted by Paul Freyre. Freyre then scored a goal for himself, assisted by Devin Traister. After both goals, there were 30 seconds gone in the second quarter. Whitaker scored his third and fourth goals for his second pair of back to back goals, the first goal was assisted by Ethan Joshi while Freyre assisted on the second. Freyre scored his second goal of the day assisted by Lubawy as the Cougars lead grew to 15. The Presidents then scored a pair of goals, including a man up goal for the second, to cut the lead to 16-3. With 5 ½ minutes left in the half, Rooney scored his second goal of the game assisted by Adam Rinker. He was followed, less than 10 seconds later, by Keller scoring his first career goal. He was assisted by Owen Millar as the Cougars went back in front by 15. Randal scored his first goal of the game, less than 10 seconds after that, unassisted. With four minutes left in the half, J.R. DuBose scored his first goal of the game assisted by Rooney. Tyler Laughlin scored his first goal of the season assisted by DuBose nearing three minutes to play in the half. The Presidents added one more goal before halftime to make the score at the end of the first half 21-4.

The second half started with history made for the Cougars when the Cougars tied their single game assist record of 20 as Cole Dermitt scored his first career goal assisted by Creeden. The Presidents answered back with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 16, 22-6. The Cougars started scoring again, breaking the single game assist record, with six minutes left in the third quarter as Freyre scored on the assist from Creeden. Creeden assisted on the next goal as well, this time it was scored by Millar. Creeden got back into the scoring column as Keller picked up his second assist of the game with a little over two minutes to play in the third quarter. That ended a much lower scoring quarter for the Cougars who led 25-6 heading into the final frame. 

Millar got things started for the Cougars in the fourth quarter assisted by DuBose as the Cougars opened a 20 goal lead. Freyre scored his fourth goal of the game as the Cougars broke their single game goal record with the 27th of the game. He was assisted by Riddick Flynn. DuBose scored the final goal of the game for the Cougars unassisted putting the Cougars up 28-6. The Presidents would score the final goal of the game, ending with a final score of 28-7.

The Cougars were led by Whitaker who scored five goals on six total shots, all on goal. Freyre scored a career high four goals and assisted on two for a career high six points. Marsh and Ethan Rinker each scored three goals. Rooney, Creeden, Millar and DuBose all scored two goals. Rooney assisted on four, a team high, and Creeden assisted on three. Millar and DuBose each had a pair of assists. Lubawy, Keller, and Isaac Joshi all added a pair of assists for the Cougars. Randal got a team high nine ground balls and went 18 of 22 on faceoffs. Traister added six ground balls and a perfect 4 for 4 on faceoffs. DuBose found four ground balls and won four of his five faceoffs as the Cougars won 29 of 39 total faceoffs. Ethan Joshi led the Cougars with two caused turnovers. The Cougars converted on all 12 clear attempts. The Cougars used a trio of goalies; Zen Smith started the game and made one save. He was replaced by Brett Zaruba who also made one save. Then Mario Pusateri entered and finished the game making two saves.

The Cougars will be back in action on April 2nd as they travel to Grave City to take on the Wolverines at 7 PM.