The Binghamton University women’s lacrosse team has already improved its record from a year ago.

After a disappointing one-win finish in 2007, the Bearcats improved to 2-2 this season with a 13-12 victory over visiting Iona Sunday at the Bearcats Sports Complex. Iona, which is just 1-3 against the Bearcats all-time, defeated Binghamton 18-12 last season.

“It’s just really great to be able to witness how much we’ve developed as a team,” said junior captain Kelsey Pieper. “This game wasn’t even close last year, but this year we were able to come out on top.”

Binghamton’s freshmen played a large role in the win. After falling into a 1-0 deficit, Binghamton answered by scoring five of the next six goals, two that came from freshmen. Of those five goals, three were assisted by freshman Ali Castiglie. Castiglie had a match-high five points, off four assists and one goal.

Castiglie has eight assists on the season, putting her on pace to place second in assists per game in single-season team history behind Becky Green’s 2004 performance of 2.13 per game. Castiglie was named the America East Women’s Lacrosse Freshman of the Week in the first week of the season after she had netted seven points in two games.

Goalkeeper Lauren Scott, another freshman, relinquished the lead in the second half, after replacing senior goalkeeper Sandra Alvarez. Scott allowed six goals on 12 shots. In the last few seconds of the game, with the Bearcats up one after Castiglie scored, Iona was granted a free-position shot. Scott pulled off the save and held to end the game.

Binghamton dropped its America East opener 15-8 to Maryland-Baltimore County at the Bearcats Sports Complex last Friday. The Retrievers got off to a 3-0 start and led 10-2 at halftime fueled by UMBC’s Ali Levendusky as she finished with a game-high six goals.

BU freshman Ali Castiglie put BU on the board with a team-high fifth goal of the season to make the score 3-1.

Both teams played in harsh conditions in the second half as snow limited visibility and covered the field. UMBC ran off three of the first four goals of the half to put the game out of reach. BU finished the final period with a 5-2 run to close the match.

The Bearcats travel to Syracuse for a night match-up at 7 p.m. The Orange are ranked third in the nation according the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s recent poll. Syracuse has had the Bearcats’ number in all their matchups, the most recent victory coming last season, a 23-4 rout in Syracuse.