PITTSBURGH, Pa. - On Friday, the Cougars (6-3) took on the Marymount Saints (5-6) in the final non-conference game of the season. The Saints jumped out to an early lead and the Cougars few small runs were unable to close the gap as the Cougars fell by a final score of 17-10.


The Saints got the game started with a pair of goals before standout first year Bella Walski-Rodriguez scored a free position goal for her 17th of the season. The Saints answered back with two more goals before Walski-Rodriguez scored her second goal of the day, 18th of the season, to close the opening quarter with the Cougars trailing 4-2.


The Saints once again scored two goals to open the quarter before the Cougars could find the back of the net. This time it was Sarah Holt scoring her eighth goal of the season assisted by Izzy Davanti.The Saints then scored the following four goals opening a seven goal lead. The Cougars followed by scoring twice in the last 67 seconds of the half. First it was Rachel Luomala scoring her sixth goal of the season, unassisted. She was followed by Madison Kata scoring her fourth goal of the season, assisted by Campbell Murphy. That cut the Saints lead to 10-5 at halftime.


The Saints did not worry about the mounting Cougar momentum as they made it three straight quarters scoring the first two goals of the period. Bella Walski-Rodriguez stopped the scoring run when she completed her hat trick, scoring her 19th goal of the season assisted by Rachel Luomala. The Saints then scored two more goals before the Cougars answered back. The answer was Izzy Davanti scoring her seventh goal of the season, assisted by Kendall Foster. That ended the third quarter with the Cougars trailing 14-7.


The Cougars decided to take a page out of the Saints book, scoring the first two goals of the quarter. Sara Kaesshaefer scored her 14th goal of the season assisted by Izzy Davanti to start the quarter. Then Kaesshaefer was on the other end assisting on Bella Walski-Rodriguez's 20th goal of the season, fourth of the day. The Saints answered back with two more goals of their own. Rachel Luomala scored the final Cougars goal of the day, her second of the day and seventh of the season, assisted by Izzy Davanti. The Saints then added one more goal right before the buzzer to make the final score 17-10.


The Cougars were led offensively by Izzy Davanti (1G 3A) and Bella Walski-Rodriguez (4G) who each recorded four points. Rachel Luomala (2G 1A) and Sara Kaesshaefer (1G 1A) were the only other Cougars with multiple points. Luomala also led the Cougars with six ground balls while Campbell Murphy led the team with 10 draw controls. Sofia Hoetzlein-Sirman had four caused turnovers, the most of any Cougar. Meghan Cuza-Berry made 11 saves and had a .393 save rate in net for the Cougars. As a team the Cougars completed 11 of 16 saves.


The Cougars will be back in action on Saturday April 4th when they host the Hiram Terriers to resume conference play. The game is scheduled for 1 PM at UPMC Graham Field.