In a season where anything seemed possible, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team received a serious reality check this past weekend. In a four-team round-robin tournament at Princeton, the Bearcats were the only team that failed to come away with a victory, losing big to Bellarmine and to the host school.

Bellarmine (3-4) upset Binghamton (4-3), by a score of 9-4, by shutting down the Bearcats’ offensive flow. Despite outshooting the Knights 25-23, Binghamton’s offense seemed frustrated, at best. The Knights made several important defensive stops throughout the game, which the 16th-ranked Bearcats had trouble matching.

After falling behind 5-1, the Bearcats showed some resiliency. With about nine minutes remaining in the third period, senior goalie Kevin McKeown made a thrilling save on the defensive end, leading to a fast-break goal by freshman Chris Mulheron. But Bellarmine responded with a 3-1 run, including a devastating goal as time expired in the third. The Bearcats then failed to convert on a two-man-up situation early in the fourth period, ending any hope of a comeback.

Junior Rob Williams scored the first goal of the game on a man-up play with the assist from Mulheron. However, Bellarmine retaliated with a pair of goals, one of which was scored as time expired in the opening period. In the decisive second period, Bellarmine scored three more unanswered goals, completing a demoralizing five-goal run.

Freshman Jake Boyce and junior Matt McNamara both added unassisted goals for the Bearcats, whose four-game winning streak was snapped by the loss.

“We weren’t sharp on either end,” said head coach Ed Stephenson. “We didn’t do anything on offense; we didn’t do anything on defense. You put that combination together and you get beat 9-4.”

The Bearcats looked to rebound Sunday, but faced a much more daunting opponent — No. 7 Princeton. Stephenson considered the Tigers (4-2) one of the top three defensive teams in the country, and they didn’t disappoint, defeating the Bearcats 10-2 in front of more than 1,100 fans.

The Tigers scored the first goal of the game, but the Bearcats quickly retaliated, as Mulheron evened the score at 1-1. However, Binghamton went cold the rest of the game, allowing nine more goals before senior Scott Mitchell scored late in the fourth period. The Tigers outshot the Bearcats 47-20, and picked up 45 ground balls to Binghamton’s meager 21.

Despite the lopsided final score, the Bearcats still had some positives to take away from the game. McKeown blocked seven shots in three periods, several of which were one-on-one opportunities. Backup goalie Larry Kline made three saves in his eight minutes of action, and held Princeton scoreless during that stretch.

“We played a great first half defensively,” Stephenson said. “We struggled to break them down one-on-one on the offensive end, but they’ve held some of the best teams in the country to single digits.”

Stephenson also thought the non-conference game was another good test for his team before America East play begins Saturday at Hartford (2-5).