The Binghamton women’s lacrosse team opened its 2013 campaign under interim head coach Stephanie Allen Sunday afternoon with a 10-5 loss to St. Francis (Pa.).
The Bearcats surrendered nine goals in the first half while scoring only three of their own, two of which came from senior midfielder Katherine Hunsberger and one from fellow senior midfielder Casey Bulman. Senior attack Kimberly McGeever and sophomore midfielder Renee Kiviat also chipped in during the first frame with an assist each.
Snowy weather conditions that had pushed the originally slated Saturday start to Sunday played a factor early on in the contest.
”In the first half, we really let the elements and conditions affect us and throw us off our game on defense,” Allen said.
The Bearcats had trouble containing St. Francis freshman attack Olivia Pittman, who tallied four first-half goals and helped her team to a 9-3 lead at the break.
“In the first half we let [Pittman] get too much space and use her ability to score,” Allen said. “The second half was definitely more of a team effort to adjust to successfully stop her.”
The Bearcats not only stopped Pittman in the second half, but also managed to slow down the entire St. Francis offense, giving up one early goal before shutting out their opponents for the remaining 28 minutes of play.
”In the second half, the defense came together in a total team effort and played much better to hold them,” Allen said.
The Bearcats received their two second-half goals from junior transfer attack Angela Vespa and senior midfielder Kristen Stone. Vespa and Stone combined with Bulman and Hunsburger to produce the five Binghamton goals of the game.
”I was pleased with the four goal-scorers we had, but I definitely would have liked seeing more players step up on the offense,” Allen said.
The Bearcats offense produced 10 shots on goal and 18 total shots to St. Francis’ 21 total shots with 15 on goal. In the second half, however, BU held St. Francis to just three total shots.
The Bearcats faltered in clearing the ball throughout the game, though, as they had only one successful clear, compared to St. Francis’ 11.
BU sophomore goaltender Kara Pafumi started the game in net and recorded four saves.
“Kara made some good saves in the first half, but the defense wasn’t doing well enough after the saves to stop them from scoring,” Allen said.
Freshman goalie Erin McNulty, the program’s highest-ranked recruit of all time, made her Binghamton debut in the second half, recording one save of her own. Allen said both goalies will spend a decent amount of time in the net going forward. Who will receive the start going forward, she said, “is going to be [decided] game by game depending on our opponent.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to host their home opener on Wednesday against Lehigh, when they will look to avenge last season’s 17-10 loss to the Mountainhawks.
“We’re looking forward to our home opener … and getting back to our style of play,” Allen said.
Face-off is set for 4 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.