The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team dominated UMass Lowell on Saturday, defeating the River Hawks handily, 16-5. The Bearcats (3-6, 2-1 America East) tied the program’s single-game scoring record with 16 goals, snapping their two-game skid and notching their second conference win of the season.
In last week’s disappointing 17-9 loss to Hartford, BU was plagued by possession and offensive troubles. This weekend, however, the Bearcats had no problem finding the net against the River Hawks (2-10, 0-4 AE), marking a resurgence of Binghamton’s potent attack.
“This was a much-needed win,” BU head coach Scott Nelson said. “The guys definitely deserved this one.”
Senior midfielder Zach Scaduto was the star of the match, netting a total of four goals for the Bearcats. Junior midfielder Dan Mazurek also put on a stellar performance in the circle, grabbing 15 faceoff victories in his 22 attempts for Binghamton.
Scaduto opened scoring in the match by rifling in two goals in the first two minutes and the Bearcats continued to pour it on from there. Six different players combined to score seven goals in the second quarter, including two more by Scaduto, one by senior attackman Johnny Maher and another from redshirt sophomore attackman Sean Gilroy. BU outshot the River Hawks, 35-10, through the first two quarters while breaking up four UML clear attempts.
“That’s huge in lacrosse,” Nelson said of BU’s ability to break up clearing attempts. “That’s where a lot of our ground balls came from and how we got so many shots off.”
After a UMass Lowell goal to start off the second half, the Bearcats notched four straight goals to push the tally to 14-4. Sophomore midfielder Ben Kocis set up senior defender George Deignan for his second score of the game with 12:02 left in the third quarter before freshman Joe Licata put one in unassisted followed by two more Bearcats finding their way to the back of the goal.
Gilroy and freshman attackman Jake Nelson closed out the match with one goal each in the fourth to help BU tie the program record.
Nelson was pleased with his team’s ability to rebound from last week’s loss.
“It was a good chance for them to show some guts [on Saturday] and to play hard,” Nelson said. “We trapped them in their own end a lot, which was key. They really hustled and gave it their all. We got a ton of shots off and it was overall just a great victory.”
While Scaduto led the Bearcats in scoring, Mazurek’s success in the faceoff circle, despite battling injury, was key for BU.
“Dan had sprained his ankle the week of the Hartford game, so he wasn’t able to practice much that week,” Nelson said. “We try to split up the faceoffs as best we can, but Dan was winning so many of them that we just stuck with him.”
Different players have continued to step up in each Bearcat win and Nelson believes that this is key to the Bearcats’ success, especially if Scaduto can continue his impressive play.
“[Scaduto] loves to play and I just think he’s going to keep going,” Nelson said. “I definitely think he’s going to keep this up.”
Binghamton is set to return to action on Tuesday against Canisius. The non-conference game is set to begin at 7 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.