After Cornell used a 5-1 run to take a six-goal lead into halftime, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team didn’t come any closer than four and ultimately fell 17-11 on Tuesday at Schoellkopf Field.
Three Bearcats scored a goal apiece in the first 18 minutes to keep the No. 20 Big Red (9-5, 4-3 Ivy) at bay. Senior midfield Katherine Hunsberger opened scoring for Binghamton (2-11, 1-4 America East) with an unassisted goal at the 23:40 mark, and junior attack Angela Vespa added a score seven minutes later. When freshman attack Sophie Racciatti scored at the 12:27 mark, Binghamton trailed 4-3.
But then Cornell reeled off four unanswered goals in six minutes, and the Bearcats’ deficit increased to 10-4 by halftime.
The Big Red outshot the Bearcats 20-6 in the first 30 minutes.
“We didn’t get as many offensive possessions as we wanted in the first half,” BU head coach Stephanie Allen said, according to www.bubearcats.com.
Cornell sophomore Lindsay Toppe fired a shot past Binghamton sophomore goalkeeper Kara Pafumi 32 seconds into the second half, but Hunsberger answered less than a minute later with a free position shot. When Toppe scored again at the 15:21 mark, Cornell led 14-7.
Then the Bearcats used unanswered goals by Hunsberger and senior midfields Kristen Stone and Casey Bulman to trim the deficit to 14-10 at the 7:16 mark.
But Toppe answered once again with 3:56 to play, and Cornell senior attack Caroline Salisbury put the game out of reach with a score at the 1:44 mark. Stone would score her third goal of the game less than a minute later, but the Bearcats couldn’t mount a rally for the win.
Binghamton kept better pace with Cornell in the second half. Each team scored seven goals, and the Big Red outshot the Bearcats by just two goals compared to 14 in the first half.
Allen said her team turned in a better performance than it did in its 22-6 loss to Albany last weekend.
“Cornell did a good job of limiting us offensively, but I was happy with our shot selection, and we did a better job of executing our game plan tonight,” she said, according to a press release on BUBearcats.com. “We talked all week about competitiveness, and I thought we were much more focused on that tonight.”
Hunsberger and Stone each recorded a hat trick in the loss to Cornell. Neither of them scored a single goal off an assist.
“Katherine and Kristen played very strong for us on both ends of the field,” said Allen, according to the press release. “[They] were out there fighting every second they had on the field. With the season winding down, I know they are trying to leave their mark on the program, which they certainly have done.”
Hunsberger and Stone have an opportunity to make one more mark on the program on Saturday, when the Bearcats are set to face off against first-place Stony Brook. The Seawolves (13-2, 5-0 AE), ranked No. 10 in the latest IWLCA Coaches Poll, have dominated opponents to the tune of a 10.34 average margin of victory.
But regardless of the outcome of the regular season finale, America East tiebreakers dictate that Binghamton cannot make the conference tournament. The Bearcats can finish in a three-way, fourth-place tie with Vermont and either UMBC or New Hampshire, but the Retrievers (8-7, 2-3 AE) and the Wildcats (5-10, 2-3 AE) both beat Binghamton, giving them the advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker and bumping the Bearcats from contention.
Faceoff against the Seawolves is set for 1 p.m. at LaValle Stadium.