Following a close one-goal defeat just days before, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team recorded its second win of the year against Lafayette on Thursday. The Bearcats (2-1) and the Leopards (0-2) exchanged goals in the first two minutes, setting the stage for an exciting back-and-forth game, with BU outshooting the Leopards 34-29 and ultimately capturing the victory by a score of 20-13.
After trading scores in the opening minutes, junior midfielder Rebecca Golderman found the back of the net and began a stretch of seven unanswered goals for the Bearcats. Seven different Bearcats scored during the stretch, handing Binghamton an 8-1 advantage. Lafayette, however, appeared determined to bounce back from this deficit. The Leopards countered, scoring five total goals of their own before the first half concluded at a score of 10-5.
Teamwork was a trend throughout the half, with the Bearcats sharing the scoring effectively. Eight different players scored Binghamton’s 10 goals in the period.
“That’s something we go in with the intent in every game and every practice is to have multiple threats out there,” said BU head coach Stephanie Allen, when asked about the number of BU players who scored on Thursday night. “We’ve got more depth than we have ever had in the past on that side of the ball.”
Lafayette struck first in the second half, finding the back of the net two minutes in. The Bearcats went on to respond with two goals minutes later as senior midfielder Stefanie Frolo scored and Golderman earned her second goal of the game, extending BU’s score to 12-6 less than three minutes into the second half.
The Leopards went on a run of its own later in the second half, scoring three straight goals before BU answered with a goal from sophomore midfielder Amelia Biancardi to put the score at 16-9 with 14 minutes left to play. Although both teams took turns scoring up until the final buzzer, BU’s offense proved to be too much to overcome as the final score read 20-13.
“The focus was on us and what we do well,” Allen said. “The goal was to take better quality shots than we had in previous games and I think that was well executed on all levels.”
The improved execution was evident, as the Bearcats were able to score on more than half of their total shots. Leading the scoring for them was Frolo, senior midfielder Jacqueline Kennedy and freshman attack Paige Volkmann, each logging a hat trick. The team also received contributions from redshirt senior attack Brianne Arthur, senior attack Tiffany Ryan, redshirt senior attack Jocelyn Penteck and Golderman, each contributing two scores of their own.
“We created opportunities for ourselves with the aggressive execution that we had out there,” Allen said. “It was nice to see us really create for each other on the offensive end.”
Binghamton faced Lafayette last year in its season opener and lost 17-14 in a back-and-forth contest. This year, the outcome was different as it was able to avoid losing its second consecutive game while handing the Leopards their second loss of the season.
BU looks to pick up its third victory of the year as they play at home for the first time this season on Wednesday, Feb. 28 against Colgate. The contest is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.