PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Wednesday, the No. 2 Cougars took on the No. 3 Saint Vincent Bearcats in the PAC Semifinals. The Cougars opened their postseason run with a rematch of last season's PAC Semifinals. Much like last year the Cougars ran away with the game late. The Cougars jumped out to an early lead and coasted to the win in a chippy match up late.
The Cougars wasted no time jumping out to a 1-0 lead as
Luke Iovino scored the first goal of the game, his 15th of the season, assisted by
Jacob Lubawy. The Cougars and Bearcats then failed to score for the next nearly ten minutes. That was ended by a pair of goals by
Devin Traister. The Cougars added a pair of goals to end the first quarter with a 5-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Cougars continued to dominate, helped by multiple incredible saves by senior goalie
James Cipollone.
Thomas Whitaker reached 80 goals on the season scoring his second and third goals of the game to open the second quarter. The Cougars followed Whitaker's goals with a pair of goals before the Bearcats finally got on the board before the end of the first half. The Cougars took a commanding 9-1 lead into the break.
The third quarter was more of the same. The Bearcats opened the half with a single goal but that was followed by four straight goals by the Cougars by four different players. Before the end of the third quarter, the Bearcats and Cougars traded goals to end the period. The final goal of the quarter completed teh hat trick for
Erik Sahlgren. The Cougars took a decisive 14-3 lead into the final 15 minutes of play.
Before the quarter started there were three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, two on the Bearcats and one on the Cougars, that stemmed from an altercation after the third quarter horn. To start the fourth quarter, Whitaker scored his team high fourth goal of the game to put the Cougars ahead by 12. The Bearcats answered back with a pair of goals before the Cougars scored their final goal. The Bearcats scored the final goal of the game, but it did not matter as the Cougars cruised to a 16-6 Semifinal win and a rematch with Grove City in the PAC Championship Game.
The Cougars were paced offensively by Whitaker's four goals. Lubawy (1G 2A), Sahlgren (3G), Traister (2G 1A), Iovino (2G 1A), and
Adam Rinker (2G 1A) each had three points as the Cougars spread the wealth in the scoring department.
Jesse Corser-James led the Cougars with eight ground balls while causing one turnover.
Cody Randal went 17-of-24 on face offs while picking up seven ground balls.
Gavin Loshnowsky caused two turnovers for the Cougars while three other players had one. Cipollone made 12 saves for the Cougars including multiple high level saves to help the Cougars continue their long scoring runs. He ended the game with a .667 save rate. The Cougars went 20-of-24 on clears while helping the Bearcats fail five. There were 14 total penalties, eight by the Cougars and six by the Bearcats, for a total of 12:30.
The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday May 2nd when the Cougars travel to Grove City for a PAC Championship rematch with hardware on the line. The game will start at 7 PM.
