The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team’s season came to an end on Sunday. The Bearcats (4-10, 2-4 America East) fell to Vermont, 17-9 and finished fifth in the AE, one spot short of qualifying for the AE tournament. BU needed to defeat the Catamounts (8-7, 4-2 AE) by at least five goals to surpass fourth-place Hartford in the standings.
The Bearcats leapt out to an early lead, controlling play and going up 4-0 in the first quarter. Senior attack Johnny Maher capped off the BU run by scoring less than two minutes into the second quarter to push the lead to five.
“I think we got a combination of some all-even goals and some unsettled goals which is really nice,” said BU head coach Scott Nelson. “I thought the defense led the way in the beginning.”
Vermont finally found the back of the net with 10:24 left in the second. That goal kickstarted a Catamount run, in which they scored four straight goals to trim Binghamton’s lead to one. The Bearcats responded with two goals of their own to increase their cushion but Vermont struck with 17 seconds remaining in the half to cut BU’s lead to 7-5.
Vermont carried its momentum into the second half, breaking the game open by scoring eight straight goals while holding Binghamton scoreless the in the third quarter. BU finally ended its scoring drought 5:31 seconds into the fourth, but by that time it was too late for BU.
“I thought we gave them too many opportunities,” Nelson said. “We didn’t have the ball enough and we didn’t win enough face-offs. Their face-off guy really had a great night.”
Maher added a goal with 7:04 left of play to cut Vermont’s lead to 14-9. The Catamounts then scored three more goals to secure the win.
With the season now at its end, the Bearcats will lose eight seniors to graduation, including its top two scorers, Maher and midfielder Zach Scaduto. The dynamic duo has combined for 67 points on the year. That type of production will be tough for the Bearcats, who struggled on offense for much of this season, to replace.
“It’s very, very tough, more so because they’re great guys,” Nelson said of his departing seniors. “Not just on the lacrosse end but everywhere, we’re going to really miss this group.”
Binghamton does have a talented young core and is set to return seven of its top 10 scorers next year. Sophomore midfielder Ben Kocis, who finished third on the team with 29 points, will be the Bearcats’ top returning scorer. Another key Bearcat set to return is junior goalie Tanner Cosens, who started 11 games and led the team in save percentage with a .440 mark.
“We are very excited about next year,” Nelson said. “We think we’ve got a great group coming back.”
The Bearcats have now finished the season fifth in the AE four of the last five seasons. Nelson is eager to get his group back on the field for fall training, as BU will hope to make its way back to the postseason for the first time since 2013-14.
“I wish we could get going right away,” Nelson said. “Obviously we’ve got to improve in a lot of areas, but we do have a lot of guys coming back so we’ll just work on building the team.”