Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College men's lacrosse team took the field at R. Marvin Owens to open up their 2019 season as they hosted the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines in a nonconference matchup. The Cougars started the season strong as they claimed their first win of the season. Columbia starts the season with a 1-0 record.

The Cougars got off to a great start as JT Huez scored the first goal of the season, two and a half minutes into the first quarter. The Wolverines were able to respond with 6:16 minutes left in the quarter to tie the game 1-1. Minutes later, Cooper Heck scored his first of the season to take the lead back before ending the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Cougars were able to build some momentum as they were able to score four unanswered goals against Michigan-Dearborn. With a minute left in the first half, the Wolverines found the back of the net to make it a 6-2 game in the Cougars favor. The Cougars weren't done yet as they were able to recover the ball in the last seven seconds of the half. Columbia College completed the play as Cooper Heck found Huez to score a goal in the last 0:03 seconds to complete the hat trick. The Cougars headed into the locker room with a 7-2 lead over the Wolverines.   

Going into the third quarter, both the Cougars and the Wolverines were evenly matched as both teams kept each other from scoring. Michigan Dearborn cleared the ball with 9:13 left to make a run for the net and score the only goal of the quarter.

Henry Stauffer shot a rocket thirty-five seconds into the final quarter to extend the Cougars lead 8-3. The Wolverines answered with a goal of their own with 10:07 left in the game. Michigan Dearborn kept pushing as they scored four unanswered goals past the Cougars to tie the game at eight with a minute left in regulation. With 26.9 left in the game, the Cougars call a timeout to attempt one final play, but were unable to find the back of the net.

Going into overtime, both teams were working hard to find the net and with 1:21 left on the clock, Nick Kaiser was able to find Carson Morrisey who scored the game winning goal.

Ty Hosler was in goal for the Cougars as he recorded 12 saves.

The lacrosse team is back in action when they travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana to take on the Indiana Tech Warriors in a nonconference matchup on Saturday, March 16^th. The opening faceoff is slated for 1 p.m.