After disappointing losses over spring break, the Bearcats men’s lacrosse team found enormous hope in a single victory that may have kept their postseason hopes alive.
When the Bearcats came home to face conference foe Vermont on Saturday, it was a must-win, and Binghamton came through.
Vermont opened up the scoring with a goal, but it would be their only lead of the entire game. Just one minute later, Binghamton struck back with a goal by senior attack Jake Boyce, one of his two first-quarter goals in a span of two minutes.
“That was a huge win at home,” Bearcats head coach Ed Stephenson said. “The guys played as hard as they’ve played all year. They were as focused as I’ve seen them this season. We knew we had to win.”
In its two conference games over spring break, Binghamton dropped a 13-4 decision at No. 6 UMBC on April 4 and then defeated Vermont at home a week later by a score of 8-4. The Bearcats also had two non-conference losses, the first of which was an 11-9 heartbreaker at No. 15 Colgate on April 7. The Bearcats then traveled to No. 12 Maryland and were defeated 15-6 on Tuesday evening.
UMBC scored the first four goals of the contest and outscored the Bearcats, 6-1, in the second half. The Retrievers won 14 of 24 faceoffs and held the edge in ground balls, 36-28.
“We started slow,” Stephenson said. “We didn’t play well at all. When we’re sluggish on a road trip against top 20 teams, it’s tough for us to secure faceoffs and get ground balls.”
Two days later, the Bearcats played No. 15 Colgate, but the result was much different than the flat performance against UMBC. Binghamton either held the lead or were tied for the entire game before Colgate reeled off four consecutive goals in 10 minutes in the fourth quarter to take an 11-8 lead. This time, shots were nearly even (31-28 in favor of Colgate), ground balls were even (21 apiece) and faceoffs were also nearly even (12-11 in favor of Colgate).
“That shows the Jekyll and Hyde of how we’ve played that year,” Stephenson said. “[Colgate] is a team comparable to UMBC when you look at them athletically and skill wise. We really played well offensively and we got some things going. I felt we should have won that game.”
Stephenson pointed to three glaring mistakes that may have changed the outcome of the game.
“We had three big turnovers when we had control of the last shot of three different quarters,” Stephenson said. “We failed to clear and secure the last shot, giving them a counter attack opportunity, and they scored. That really stung us, but I felt like we played our best offensive game of the year.”
Colgate scored with just one second left in the first quarter and with seven seconds left in the third quarter as a result of those mistakes.
After the triumph over Vermont the woes continued for the Bearcats as No. 12 Maryland shut Binghamton down. The Terrapins opened up with an 11-1 lead and never looked back. The Bearcats got slammed in the ground ball category by a 53-20 margin and were just 14-for-24 on clearing opportunities.
“We came out of the blocks very slow again,” Stephenson said. “They won just about every faceoff in the first half, and our defense wasn’t playing particularly well. The score was 4-4 for the second half, but the damage was already done.”
The Bearcats are now 1-2 in conference play and 2-10 overall. In the America East Conference, UMBC holds a 3-0 league record, and tied for second place are No. 20 Albany and Stony Brook with marks of 2-1. Vermont and Binghamton are 1-2 in conference play, and Hartford is 0-3. The top four teams in the conference reach the tournament and play for a chance to make it into the NCAA field.
That makes the Bearcats’ upcoming conference game against Stony Brook another must-win.
“The conference is still wide open,” Stephenson said. “UMBC is in the driver’s seat, but if we could get this win, we’re one step closer to the postseason. We could finish anywhere from second place to last place.”
Binghamton will travel to Stony Brook for their second-last regular season game this Saturday at 7 p.m.