NEW CONCORD, Ohio - On Wednesday, the Cougars (4-2) traveled to New Concord for a tough midweek matchup with the Muskingum Fighting Muskies (3-4). The Cougars jumped out to an early lead and used it to lead wire-to-wire en route to a 12-10 final.


The Cougars wasted no time setting the tone of the game as Devin Traister won the opening face off and scored the quickest goal in Cougars history just two seconds into the game. Traister then won the second face off and passed to Erik Sahlgren who scored five seconds later. That gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead just seven seconds into the game. The Cougars scored the following three goals as well, taking a 5-0 lead before the Muskies scored their first goal ten minutes into the first quarter. The Cougars were able to score the final goal of the first quarter after a Muskingum penalty put the Cougars on the man advantage. That gave the Cougars a 6-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. 


The Muskies scored the first goal of the second quarter, cutting the Cougars lead back to four before back-to-back goals less than 40 seconds apart gave the Cougars their largest lead to that point at six. The Muskies and Cougars traded goals through the end of the first half as the Cougars held a strong 9-4 lead when the teams headed to halftime.


The Cougars controlled the start of the third quarter, scoring the first two goals of the half to extend the lead to a game high seven goals.  After that, Muskingum took control of the game scoring the final two goals of the third quarter as the Cougars led 11-6 with 15 minutes left to play.


The Muskies made their run to start the fourth quarter, scoring the first four goals of the frame to cut the Cougars lead down to one, the lowest point since the first quarter. Sean Creeden scored his second goal of the game to stop the bleeding and put the Cougars back ahead by two with eight minutes to play. Despite pushes by both teams, neither side could find the back of the net after that and the Cougars held on to win 12-10.


The Cougars were led offensively by four different players with three points each; Jacob Lubawy (1G 2A), Erik Sahlgren (1G 2A), Thomas Whitaker (3G) and Owen Millar (2G 1A). That was the  fifth consecutive hat trick for Whitaker who has now scored 24 goals on the season. Other scorers for the Cougars were Devin Traister (1G 1A), Adam Rinker (1G 1A), Sean Creeden (2G), Michael Flynn (1A), Cody Rosati (1G) and Gavin Loshnowsky (1A). Traister led the Cougars with career highs in ground balls (nine) and face off wins (16). Jesse Corser-James and Whitaker each recorded seven ground balls. Corser-James recorded six caused turnovers, tying his career high. James Cipollone recorded three saves, picking up his fourth win of the season in net. The Cougars converted on 18 of 22 clear attempts.


The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday March 21st when they host Hood at UPMC Graham Field for Youth Lacrosse Day with a start time of 4 PM.