The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team traveled to Poughkeepsie, New York on Saturday to take on Marist, ultimately falling short 10-9. The Bearcats gained an early lead and held onto it for the majority of play, but a late run by the Red Foxes handed BU the loss.

“It’s been a long week for us,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “We weren’t able to practice outside at all, and I think it showed a little bit today. We really didn’t clear the ball well all day and I thought ultimately that was the biggest difference in the game.”

The Bearcats (0-2) got on the board early with two quick goals within the first three minutes courtesy of graduate student attack/midfielder Liam Ferris and sophomore attack Drew Filanowski. After a few minutes of back-and-forth play from both sides, an assist from Ferris led to a goal by senior attack Gage Adams to give Binghamton a 3-0 advantage. Marist (2-1) continued to look for an opportunity to get on the board and ultimately found the back of the net with four minutes left, ending the first quarter down 3-1.

“I thought we played hard,” McKeown said. “Then they put one in at the end of the second quarter right before halftime — it was like a deflective pass. I felt like we were doing okay, but again, I didn’t think the way we were clearing the ball was going to be able to hold up.”

The second quarter began with an early goal from Marist, putting the score at 3-2. The Bearcats responded with two goals of their own from Ferris on a man-up opportunity off an assist from sophomore attack Andrew Girolamo and from senior attack Dan Garone, making the score 5-2. Within the final seven minutes of play, the Red Foxes were able to capitalize on opportunities and scored two goals of their own before the period finished. The first half of play ended 5-4, with the Bearcats holding on to the lead.

“We made a couple of adjustments lining up on our clear and provide a little more support at the midfield,” McKeown said. “I thought we adjusted okay to that. We made a few stick work errors that I think bite us a little bit, but, we felt like for not clearing the ball as much as we did in the first half to be winning, we were pretty fortunate.”

Binghamton found success in the third quarter from a man-up opportunity when junior midfielder Gavin Jacobsen found the back of the net off an assist from Girolamo to give the Bearcats a 6-4 lead. Marist then captured the next two goals, tying things at six. Binghamton quickly responded with a goal from Garone off an assist from Ferris to take back the lead. The next few minutes of play, the ball went back and forth, but the period ended with BU up 7-6.

“Without watching the film, I thought we did pretty well there,” McKeown said. “I think [Marist] got a pretty explosive offense and got some good players. I thought [senior goalie Connor Winters] played well in net, I thought our close defense did a good job on their attack. Offensively, I thought we had some good possessions, we moved the ball well at times.”

The final quarter began with Marist getting on the board within the first few seconds, tying the game at seven. The Bearcats looked to take back the lead, and a goal from Girolamo accomplished this. The next goal of the match also came from Binghamton when Adams connected with Ferris, who scored his third goal of the game. With the score at 9-7, the Red Foxes found twine twice to tie the game at nine. Both teams looked to get the final goal and win the match, but Marist succeeded, finding the back of the net to defeat Binghamton 10-9.

“We got to work on our stick work a little bit, thought we threw the ball away too much and obviously the clearing game is a big one, keep hitting on that,” McKeown said. “That’s what we told the guys in the locker room after the game, and that’ll be a big focus for us.”

Binghamton will look to get its first win of the season as they head to Hofstra University on Saturday, March 1. Face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, New York.