Westervelt and Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe and Westervelt.

Binghamton saw just too much of UMBC’s two attackmen on Thursday at the America East lacrosse semifinals in Albany.

Senior Drew Westervelt and freshman Cayle Ratcliffe combined to score nine goals and two assists, and No. 2 seed UMBC (10-4, 5-1 AE) toppled No. 3 Binghamton (4-9, 3-3 AE) 11-7 en route to the AE championship game.

The Bearcats went on a three-goal run in the fourth period to bring the score to 7-6. However, UMBC senior attack Andy Gallagher scored two to put the finishing touch on the game, as well as Binghamton’s season. The attack unit scored all of UMBC’s 11 goals.

Despite a 35-24 shot advantage, as well as a 15-7 margin in face-offs, Binghamton had trouble finding the goal.

Sophomore JP Wioncek was pulled from face-off duty after struggling early, and Kevin McCarthy shined in his place.

‘Kevin got in there and really dominated,’ said sophomore attack Jake Boyce. ‘I know the stats said he went 13 for 16 but I can’t even think of one face-off that the other guy won. They weren’t just wins; they led to fast breaks and gave us good looks.’

A near-perfect performance from McCarthy in the face-off circle helped the Bearcats maintain possession for much of the game, but UMBC made the most of their limited opportunities.

Binghamton, on the other hand, had trouble finishing their easy opportunities.

‘We got what we wanted, the looks were good, but we weren’t able to finish them,’ Boyce said. ‘We weren’t firing on all cylinders.’

The Bearcats made only seven of their 35 shots. Retriever goalie Jeremy Blevins did his part to ensure Binghamton’s low shooting percentage. Blevins turned away 13 shots on goal, including eight saves in the second half. Blevins’ saves led to transition opportunities for UMBC.

The Retrievers will face top-seeded Albany, which defeated No. 4 Stony Brook 17-5 in the other semifinal game.

Freshman midfielder Steve Carlson, who was named the America East Rookie of the Year, scored one goal, but took 10 shots.

Binghamton finished 2007 with a 0-8 record on the road. Suffice to say, the Bearcats are looking forward to a new turf field in 2008, which will allow them to schedule more home games.

The Bearcats almost exclusively played ranked teams in 2007, and almost defeated No. 20 Drexel and No. 3 Virginia. In the regular season finale, Binghamton finally put a consistent game together and toppled No. 6 Albany. But for the team’s seniors, four years of chasing an NCAA tournament bid were unfulfilled.

‘We had a whole lot of potential this season, but we never accomplished too much,’ Boyce said. ‘We never got over the hump.’