Last season, the Binghamton University men’s lacrosse team opened the season with four straight losses and dropped eight of its first nine games. But on Saturday, the Bearcats took down a nationally-ranked team to send a powerful message that this season might mark a very different chapter in the history of the program.
The Bearcats overcame an early deficit and held off a third-quarter flurry from the Colgate Red Raiders to defeat the No. 20 team in the nation by a score of 7-6 at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The win marked the program’s first victory over a nationally ranked opponent in nearly three years and the first win over Colgate in the program’s history. It also marked the first opening-day win for the team since 2004, making it a unique achievement even for the upperclassmen on the team.
“It’s huge,” said senior attack Andy Cook. “We haven’t had an opening-day win, this is our first one. It’s good getting off on the right foot. It gives you something to work for.”
“We’ve played a lot of close games with these guys, so to finally beat them, it feels real good,” said senior defender Griffin McLoughlin. “They gave us a hell of a game.”
The Bearcats’ last victory over a ranked opponent came on April 28, 2007 against No. 6 Albany, the highest-ranked team Binghamton has ever beaten.
“Well, I told the guys, I’d like to do back flips across this field because it’s been a while since we’ve beaten a ranked team,” said Bearcats head coach Ed Stephenson. “But I expected this from these guys. I expected a tough battle; I expected Colgate to be very good, and they were. It was a hard-fought battle, and I’m proud of their effort to pull out the win.”
Junior attack Frank Donlon and freshman attack Matt Springer each netted two goals in the contest, and freshman Tyler Perrelle, senior Steve Carlson and junior David Raleigh added a goal apiece.
The Bearcats fell behind 3-1 in the first quarter, but battled back and ended the half tied at 4-4. Then came the third quarter, which, according to Cook and McLoughlin, was the key to winning the game.
“I think the crucial part of the game was that third quarter,” McLoughlin said. “It was partly our fault because we couldn’t clear the ball … It was tough, and coming out of that without a scratch was good. That was the key to the game.”
The Red Raiders outshot the Bearcats 7-5 in the quarter, but thanks to stout defense and the play of junior Dan Solazzo in goal, Binghamton held Colgate scoreless for the quarter and put up two goals of its own.
“[The defense] was fantastic,” said Cook. “You’ve gotta give them pretty much all the credit. They had the ball most of the third quarter, for four or five possessions in a row, but offense came together when we needed to, and we limited our mistakes.”
Stephenson echoed the same sentiment regarding the third quarter of play.
“I wasn’t happy with our clearing game, because we made five stops in the third period, and they held the ball for about seven minutes in a row, and we weren’t able to clear it for that seven-minute period, so I’m proud of our effort for staying with it. That can weaken your legs a little bit sometimes, prevent you from maintaining a lead, but they really stayed strong and came through for us. The defense was terrific for us.”
Colgate came back in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 6-6, but Perrelle netted the eventual game-winner with just over eight minutes left, and the Bearcats held off the Red Raiders for the remainder of the contest.
“Colgate had the ball most of the second half, and it was tough for us to get an increase on the lead,” Stephenson said. “But I was really proud of our defense for the effort that they made to withstand the charge; they were on the ropes for a while, and they withstood the challenge and got the ball back to our offense. I couldn’t be any happier with their effort.”
Solazzo made 12 saves in his Bearcats debut, and stepped up on many key defensive plays, according to Stephenson.
“I thought Danny Solazzo in the goal was just terrific, [he] made big saves at big times for us, and that was great,” he said. “He’s a winner, and he wants to make this one of many.”
As far as taking the starting job, Stephenson said that the jury’s still out in replacing graduated three-year starter Larry Kline.
“It’s always a competition,” he said. “[Solazzo] certainly didn’t hurt himself today; he was terrific, he was great, we expected that from him. If our other goalies are called on, I expect them to do just as well. I know they’ll continue to battle.”
The Bearcats had lost its first seven matches against Colgate before this victory. Last year, the Bearcats narrowly lost playing on the road, 11-9, and Colgate was ranked No. 15 at the time. This year’s win dropped Colgate out of the top 20 and led to Binghamton collecting votes for the top 20 poll ranking, carried out by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.
Next up for the Bearcats is Lafayette, which was the team that the Bearcats defeated in 2004 for its only opening-day win until now, but Binghamton has not faced that team since then. They are 2-0 all-time against the Leopards.
“Lafayette’s a different team,” Stephenson said. “They’re very good. Last year they missed the Patriot League tournament by one goal, so they’re right there … They’ve got a lot of returners that are just terrific. We’ll have our hands full with them this week. We’re gonna enjoy this today, and get to work on Monday.”
The Bearcats are set to take on the Leopards at the Bearcats Sports Complex on Saturday at noon.