VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - On Saturday, the Cougars (2-1) traveled to Virginia Beach to take on the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins (2-1). The Cougars jumped out to an early lead before the Marlins stormed back. The Cougars were able to hang on and win by one after a record setting performance by Thomas Whitaker.

The Cougars got started hot with Thomas Whitaker scoring three of the first four goals of the game, the other coming from Adam Rinker. That put the Cougars ahead 4-0 midway through the first quarter. The Marlins were able to score the next two goals to cut the Cougars lead in half before the end of the first quarter. 

The Marlins also scored the first goal of the second quarter cutting the Cougars once four goal advantage down to just a single goal. Gavin Loshnowsky then scored his first goal of the season to put the Cougars back ahead by two. The Cougars and Marlins then traded goals for the rest of the first half making the score at halftime 8-6. Owen Millar scored his first goal of the game and Thomas Whitaker scored two more goals before half giving him five goals and one assist, Millar's goal, at halftime.

The Marlins got on the board first for the second quarter in a row before the Cougars scored the next three goals. Millar, Jesse Corser-James and Jacob Lubawy all scored in that run giving the Cougars their second four goal lead of the day. The Marlins refused to go quietly however, scoring two goals of their own to cut the lead in half. Thomas Whitaker then scored his sixth goal of the game, tying his career high and just one short of tying the Cougars single game record. He was followed by Erik Sahlgren scoring his first goal of the game to put the Cougars back ahead by four with five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Marlins once again answered by cutting the Cougars lead in half before Sean Creeden ended the third quarter with his first goal of the game giving the Cougars a 14-11 lead going into the final quarter. 

Less than two minutes into the quarter Thomas Whitaker scored his seventh goal of the game tying the Cougars single game goals record extending the lead back to four for the fourth time. The Marlins then deviated from their normal two goal runs to score three and cut the lead to just one. Then Lubawy scored his second goal of the game before Thomas Whitaker scored his record breaking eighth goal of the game. That gave the Cougars a three goal lead with less than three minutes to play. Despite a late push by the Marlins they were only able to get within one and the Cougars won 17-16.

The Cougars were led by record-breaker Thomas Whitaker's eight goals and one assist, coming just one point shy of tying the single game points record. Jacob Lubawy and Owen Millar each had two goals, the only other multi-goal scorers. Millar added a team high three assists and Lubawy added one of his own. Other multi-points scorers, all with one goal and one assist, were Erik Sahlgren, Jesse Corser-James and Sean Creeden. Corser-James and Jack Neal led the Cougars with seven ground balls while Corser-James added a game-high six caused turnovers. That gives Corser-James 11 caused turnovers on the season already. The Cougars converted on 25 of 29 clear attempts. James Cipollone made 12 saves and recorded a .429 save rate.

The Cougars will be back in action on Wednesday March 4th when they play their first home game of the season when they host Wittenberg at 1 PM.