The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team traveled to Poughkeepsie, New York to take on Marist on Sunday afternoon, where it lost a close battle by a score of 8-7. With the defeat, the Bearcats extended their skid to four. The team has yet to win a game in the 2018 season.
“I think we just have to execute a little better,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “In the first half we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we could have. We had some opportunities but weren’t able to finish. In the second half we had some costly turnovers that led to possession for Marist … I think it’s just cleaning up some of those things and gaining some experience. We had a lot of freshmen out there today.”
The Red Foxes (1-4) scored the first goal of the game just under three minutes into play, but the Bearcats were quick to respond with two goals of their own, both thanks to senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli, assisted by freshman attack Jackson Rieger. Marist answered to tie the score at two before the end of the first quarter.
Binghamton came out strong in the second quarter, holding off the Red Foxes and earning a goal in the first eight minutes of action, courtesy of redshirt senior attack Sean Gilroy and Petrelli’s teamwork. The Bearcats were unable to hold on to the 3-2 advantage for long, though. Marist posted an additional goal in the second quarter to tie up the match at three.
Coming out of the locker room, Marist found the back of the net twice early into the third quarter to take the lead, which they kept until the end of the game. BU’s senior attack Thomas McAndrew responded with an unassisted goal to try and even the score, but the Red Foxes were quick to respond with another goal of their own, strengthening their edge to 6-4. Just nine seconds before the quarter ended, sophomore midfielder Jon Perotto, assisted by Petrelli, netted another shot for Binghamton, tightening the score to 6-5.
Unwilling to give up the lead, Marist earned two more goals in the fourth quarter to secure victory. In the final, BU put up a good fight, logging two goals from Petrelli, assisted by freshman attack William Talbott-Shere and McAndrew. Their rally proved not enough, however, as the game ended at 8-7 in favor of the Red Foxes.
“It was great to see our guys not quit,” McKeown said. “We gave them a lot of credit afterward in the locker room. We are proud of them for fighting back like that.”
While McKeown acknowledged the disappointing start to the season, he also held hope for the remainder of play. Binghamton has time to turn the season around as they have yet to play an America East Conference match and will not do so until mid-March.
“We have obviously had a tough start but I do think we are taking steps every week,” McKeown said. “While our guys are disappointed with the start, they are still hungry to get better and turn it around.”
In goal, freshman Robert Martin recorded 10 saves over the course of all 60 minutes. No other goalie was in the cage during the match.
The Bearcats will take on Hobart College on the road on Saturday. Opening faceoff is scheduled to begin Saturday, March 3 at 12 p.m. from Boswell Field in Geneva, New York.