Following a disappointing loss to No. 10 Syracuse over the weekend, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team looked for redemption in its match against Colgate on Tuesday. But the Raiders’ competition proved too stiff for the Bearcats (0-2), and BU fell to Colgate, 21-7.
“I did think that we fought and we competed hard,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “Our execution was way off. We lost our composure a couple of times in certain situations. Really, the bottom line was we didn’t execute what our jobs were, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Raiders (2-0) came out ready to attack and claimed six goals within the first eight minutes, forcing Binghamton to scramble heavily on the defensive end. BU was able to net a goal of its own with less than six minutes remaining, thanks to redshirt senior attack Sean Gilroy assisted by senior attack Thomas McAndrew, but Colgate went on to counter with four goals. Binghamton’s senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli netted the ball once more before the end of the first period, leaving the score at 10-2 as the match entered the second quarter.
Colgate exhibited dominance again in the second quarter, but BU was able to hold the Raiders to four goals while coming back offensively to score three of its own, two of which were unassisted shots from Petrelli. Freshman attack Sean Makar and junior midfielder Joe Licata teamed up to net the last shot just nine seconds before the half ended, putting the score at 14-5.
In the third period, the Bearcats attempted to gain control of the match with a goal from Makar, assisted by freshman attack Will Talbott-Shere, just under two minutes into play. Colgate rebounded immediately with a score, but Makar was able to counteract this play with another goal for BU. This proved the end of Binghamton’s offensive success, as Colgate came back to net two more shots before the third period ended at 17-7.
In the last quarter of the match, the Raiders held off the Bearcats from scoring further and cashed in on four additional goals to strengthen the already considerable advantage. Despite valiant defensive attempts on behalf of the Bearcats, the match ended in favor of the Raiders, 21-7.
Although the team was disappointed, McKeown was still proud of the team’s overall effort.
“I thought our offense did well in the game,” McKeown said. “We shot the ball very well. We only had 21 opportunities to shoot though, which normally we’d like to take double that.”
In goal, freshman Hunter Greco and freshman Robert Martin shared time during this match. Combined, both players earned a total of 13 saves, though the bulk of these were credited to Greco, who stayed in goal for 45 minutes, as opposed to Martin’s 15 minutes of play.
“When we had the ball, we did well,” McKeown said. “We just didn’t have it enough because of the faceoffs and we didn’t have enough stops on defense to get the ball to our offense.”
Binghamton is set to play its first home game of the season against Canisius on Tuesday. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.