The Binghamton women’s lacrosse team held a comfortable 11-7 lead over New Hampshire with 15 minutes remaining in Saturday’s game, but the Wildcats used a 6-1 game-ending run to squeak past the Bearcats 13-12, netting the game-winner in the match’s final second.
Following a tight first half that saw the score knotted four different times, the Bearcats (2-8, 1-2 America East) responded to an opening goal from UNH (4-7, 1-2 AE) in the second half with three straight goals of their own to extend their lead to four. Sophomore midfield Alex Fisher scored twice in the run, which gave Binghamton its largest advantage of the game.
But up 11-7, the Bearcats allowed five unanswered goals from UNH over the next 10 minutes, giving the Wildcats their first lead since the 19:18 mark in the first period.
“We had a few breakdowns defensively [during that time],” BU head coach Stephanie Allen said. “Primarily we weren’t able to win the draw control … and, unfortunately, have the ball in our possession. I thought our goalie had played incredibly well the entire game, but we had a couple of mismatches that were taken advantage of on the field for us defensively.”
Trailing 12-11 with 1:14 left on the clock, Binghamton got the ball back after senior midfield Katherine Hunsberger secured the draw and evened the score with 57 seconds remaining.
BU then won its second straight draw control. Senior attack Kimberly McGeever tried for the game-winner, but was denied by UNH sophomore goalie Taylor Hurwitz with 16 seconds remaining. Hurwitz fired the ball down field and after a quick succession of passes, freshman midfield Hannah Wohltmann connected with senior attack Jenny Simpson, who netted the game-winner with one second remaining on the clock. It was the 101st goal of Simpson’s career.
Allen said the last-second push from the Wildcats seemed to catch the Binghamton players off guard.
“I think it’s something that we’re gonna work on and being prepared for anything out there in a game situation,” she said. “I think [the players] were just kind of hoping that it would go just into overtime and [Hurwitz] would hold on, but unfortunately they moved the ball quickly and we didn’t execute on our end in stopping the ball where it should have been in the middle of the field or back in our offensive end riding a little bit harder.”
UNH freshman attack Laura McHoul led all players with seven assists and nine points, earning America East Rookie of the Week honors.
McGeever and Fisher led the Bearcats with three goals apiece. McGeever also tacked on an assist, and Hunsberger and freshman midfield Allie Rodgers each contributed with a pair of goals.
Freshman goalie Erin McNulty recorded a career-high 16 saves on 34 shot attempts, the most she has faced this season.
“Erin McNulty has just been exceptional for us as a freshman, coming in, playing with the maturity level that she has,” Allen said. “We couldn’t ask for anything more. I think she’s looking to grow and improve from game to game.”
The loss marked the second straight for the Bearcats, who fell to UMBC on April 3 after topping Vermont in their conference opener on March 30.
With three conference games and one nonconference matchup against Cornell remaining on their schedule, the Bearcats are scheduled to take on Boston University this Saturday. Action is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Nickerson Field.