After tying its game record for scoring in Saturday’s win against UMBC, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team returned to play on Tuesday, capturing a 10-7 victory over Drexel — its first win against the Dragons since 2006.
Led by three goals from junior midfielder Matthew Kaser, BU (2-4, 1-0 America East) ambushed Drexel (3-5) offensively in Tuesday’s tilt. Making his third start at attack for the Bearcats, senior midfielder Johnny Maher found Kaser twice in the span of two minutes and sophomore midfielder Ben Kocis once to give him three assists on the day. With Maher setting up many of BU’s scoring chances from behind the opposing goal, Binghamton’s offense has impressed its coaches and perplexed its opposition this season.
“[Maher’s] just so athletic that he draws so much attention back there and I think you’re seeing Ben Kocis grow up,” BU head coach Scott Nelson said. “He’s becoming a man out there; he’s one of the best midfielders in Division I and he’s showing it.”
Drexel kicked off scoring in the game to take a 1-0 lead with 11:33 remaining in the first. Just over five minutes later, sophomore attack Thomas McAndrew answered back for the Bearcats to tie the contest, 1-1. The two teams took turns scoring throughout the quarter until a rip by Kocis off of Maher’s stick gave Binghamton a 3-2 advantage with 24 seconds remaining. In the second stanza, Drexel answered when junior attack Cole Shafer scored his 16th goal of the season, but back-to-back goals by Kaser gave the junior his first career hat trick and Binghamton a 5-3 edge. Drexel knocked one more time in the period, cutting Binghamton’s lead to one before BU closed the quarter with another pair of goals from the duo of Kocis and Maher to lead at half, 7-4.
Back on the field to start the third quarter, the Bearcats hit a scoring lull, unable to find the net despite registering nine shots. Binghamton was also plagued by penalties in the set, allowing the Dragons to convert on two of their four man-up opportunities. Outscored, 2-0, Binghamton entered the final 15 holding on to a 7-6 lead.
There to answer the call for BU was McAndrew, who pushed Binghamton’s lead back to two with his second score of the day. Following a penalty by Drexel, sophomore midfielder Liam Reaume increased the Bearcats’ advantage to 9-6 with under four minutes to play. One final back-and-forth gave both teams one last goal in the final minutes before BU sealed its second straight victory, 10-7.
“I think that today was a real gut check,” Nelson said. “Especially in the third quarter; we [got] all those penalties, we had to play so much man down.”
According to Nelson, Binghamton’s saving grace was its ability to maintain possession, as the Bearcats finished with 19 ground balls and a 17-for-21 mark from the faceoff x.
“Our faceoff guys did a great job in the first half,” Nelson said. “We had the ball the whole first half and that really helped the defense.”
Binghamton is set to kickoff a road stretch against ninth-ranked Towson on Saturday. Faceoff is set for 3 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland.