With another chance to knock off a ranked opponent at home last Saturday, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team once again suffered a late-game meltdown, falling to No. 14 UMBC 11-5.

The Retrievers (7-4, 3-0 AE) took sole possession of first place in the America East from the Bearcats (6-5, 2-1 AE), who fell to third.

With the teams tied at four at the half, UMBC went on a seven-goal romp in the second half to leave Binghamton in the dust. The one-two punch of attackmen Drew Westervelt and Brendan Mundorf proved to be too much for the Bearcats, who did not score again until freshman attack Jake Boyce’s goal with a minute left in the game. Westervelt scored three of his five goals during that run, all assisted by Mundorf, who finished with four points.

Though Binghamton’s defense had been dominant in conference play, UMBC was able to dissect it with long, deliberate possessions.

“We could have held them a little tighter, which is what we’ve done in the past,” said head coach Ed Stephenson. “We’ve got to score eight or nine, and our defense has got to do the job of holding them to seven or eight.”

The defense also had trouble clearing the ball, often losing possessions in transition after reaching the offensive box.

“We cleared it down and immediately lost it because they attacked our longstick,” Stephenson said. “In the second half, I think we were fatigued. We just have to do a better job getting the ball to our offense.”

The Bearcats were strong out of the gate, as their upperclassmen fared well against UMBC’s defense. Junior attack Nate Kerstein scored the first goal of the game on a man-up play from sophomore midfielder Stephen Smith. Junior attack Rob Williams scored a pair of man-up goals in the second quarter to put the Bearcats up 3-2. The Retrievers’ Westervelt and James Hyland answered with two goals, but Smith evened the score before the close of the half.

Binghamton’s key freshmen were stifled by UMBC’s experience. The Retrievers shut down the consistent Chris Mulheron, and limited Boyce to one goal.

“They slid to Boyce a lot, and he’s one of our most potent dodgers,” Stephenson said.

More importantly, freshman faceoff specialist J.P. Wioncek lost four draws in the crucial third quarter, despite winning 11 of 20 in the game.

Senior goalie Kevin McKeown made 12 saves.

It looks like an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament is now out of reach for Binghamton. The Bearcats still have the chance to earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, but that won’t come easily. With upcoming games against No. 19 Stony Brook and three-time defending champions Albany, the Bearcats will need a little bit of luck and a lot of offensive passion to earn the best record.