With their college lacrosse careers on the line, the Bearcats’ seniors took center stage to extend their season by at least one more game.
The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team (3-11, 2-3 America East) clinched their sixth consecutive AE tournament berth on Saturday with an 11-9 win over Hartford (2-11, 1-4). Senior attack Jake Boyce and junior midfielder Steve Carlson each netted a hat trick. Boyce’s eighth three-goal effort of his career moved him into second place all-time in goals scored for the Bearcats with 61.
Boyce wasn’t the only senior that stepped up. Midfielders Jonny Baron and Kevin Joy scored a goal apiece, while Chris Mulheron had two assists and midfielder Duncan Streeten notched one. Goalie Larry Kline made seven saves in the first half and finished with a total of nine.
The nine seniors on the team — Baron, Boyce, Joy, Kline, Mulheron, Streeten, face-off man J.P. Wioncek and defenders Chris Winter and John Dreska — were honored before the game. The ceremony was just the beginning of a big night for the seniors.
“We came out fired up,” Boyce said. “We knew what we had to do. We didn’t want to be the first team [in a while] to miss the tournament.”
Junior captain Andy Cook, who also scored a goal in the contest, spoke highly of the performance of the seniors against Hartford.
“They stepped up in a big way,” Cook said. “They played a huge role in this win.”
Binghamton head coach Ed Stephenson was also quick to point out the contribution of the senior Bearcats.
“This is the first time since I’ve been coaching here that all seniors play a significant role on the team,” he said. “All nine of them are very important, and I expected them to step up.”
While the Bearcats rely more on juniors and seniors to contribute, the Hawks have been led all season by freshmen, and this game was no exception. On the attack side, Ryan Compitello netted a hat trick, while Aidan Genik and Carter Bender had two goals and one assist each. Hartford’s other two goals were scored by sophomore midfielder Vinny Pellizzi. The Hawks’ starting goaltender, Scott Bement, is also a freshman.
In a contest that saw talented freshmen matched up against experienced seniors, the seasoned Bearcats kept the Hawks down with strong second-half defense and solid offensive production.
Hartford opened up the game with three unanswered goals in the first eight minutes of play. At that time Hartford called a time-out to regroup, but it did not have the effect that the Hawks wanted it to.
“I think that time-out worked in our favor, actually,” Stephenson said.
The Bearcats regrouped and reeled off five consecutive goals in the next 10 minutes of play before ending the half up 5-4. A goal by Joy opened up the second-half scoring for Binghamton, but Hartford answered with three straight goals in just over a minute to take a 7-6 lead. The Bearcats responded with a 5-1 run to take the lead for good.
The Bearcats clinched the fourth seed in the AE Tournament and will travel to top-seeded UMBC (10-3, 4-1), ranked 10th in the nation. The No. 2 seed, Stony Brook, will face No. 3 Albany.
Maryland-Baltimore County topped the Bearcats by a score of 13-4 on April 4. Binghamton has lost to UMBC in the America East semifinal game for three consecutive seasons. The Bearcats have defeated the Retrievers just once in eight meetings.
However, last year the Bearcats lost 10-5 to UMBC during the season, but pushed the Retrievers to overtime in the semifinal before falling, 6-5. In 2006, the semifinal loss was also closer in score (6-3) than the regular season game (11-5). All signs indicate that despite the defeat of the Bearcats on the road in April, Binghamton still has a significant chance to take out the top team in the conference, especially when considering that just one week prior to Saturday’s game, UMBC was stunned by the underdog Hawks in a conference match.
“We learned something,” Stephenson said about the regular-season loss to UMBC. “We didn’t travel well. We play very well at home, but we have to take our show on the road. I expect the seniors to step up and play well on the road.”
The game is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the UMBC stadium. The winner will then go on to the AE finals on Saturday for a chance at the title and a spot in the NCAA tournament.