After a difficult week in which a third of the roster was displaced due to a fire, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team finished its season on a high note. In the final game of the season, Binghamton narrowly defeated UMass Lowell in an 11-9 win.

“The guys were just excited to play,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “Certainly it was a tough week, we scrambled and a lot of people helped the guys out to just get to where we are … It was just a great effort by the guys, we kind of rallied together throughout the week and we were able to do the same thing tonight on the field.”

Junior attack Daniel MacKinney scored three goals, while redshirt sophomore goalie Teddy Dolan accumulated nine saves out of 18 shots. Binghamton finishes their season with a 5-4 record overall and in America East (AE) competition.

“[Dolan] has been a big part, he’s come up really really big in some of those situations, he certainly did today,” McKeown said. “There were some big saves, we were a man down a couple of times, he had to step up and make some big saves. When we’ve had success this year, [Dolan’s] done really well.”

Several seniors finished their collegiate careers on Sunday. This included defender Kyle Tiernan, who started in eight of nine games this year, accumulating 16 caused turnovers and 23 ground-balls. These seniors had an interesting year in having to deal with COVID-19 restrictions, but still managed to finish above .500 for the first time since 2017.

“That’s really where we want to be on a yearly basis,” McKeown said. “It’s a goal, we want to be a winning program … We were thankful to get there this year. We have a lot of work to do to be able do it again next year. Certainly, there is a lot of time, we’ll have a new group, Our seniors did a great job of laying the groundwork, leaving the program in a better place than they found it, couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”

The game started with a goal from the River Hawks (1-11, 1-8 America East) but Binghamton responded with three straight. Sophomore midfielder Thomas Greenblatt scored two unassisted goals in the first quarter alone. Senior midfielder Jackson Rieger also tacked on a goal in the first to give the Bearcats a 6-4 lead.

In the second quarter, UMass Lowell went on a scoring onslaught with four straight goals, not allowing the Bearcats any. BU went into halftime down a goal after committing three penalties in the second. The Bearcats struggled with transition in the first half, but improved in the second.

“The biggest thing was getting stops defensively,” McKeown said. “We really buckled down, we didn’t give up any transition, which we did early on in the game. Lowell is a team that can thrive in those scramble situations. We did our job in the faceoff and not giving up transition. “

Binghamton tied up the score early on in the third quarter with a third goal by MacKinney, which was quickly answered with another goal from the River Hawks. Then, the Bearcats ripped off another four straight goals, including two goals and an assist from junior attack Kevin Winkoff, to seal their 11-9 victory.

Despite this final victory, BU does not qualify for the AE postseason since they sit in fifth place. However, if one of the top four teams in the conference drops out due to COVID-19 protocols, Binghamton can join the playoffs.