As the Binghamton University men’s lacrosse team heads into its second conference game of the season at University of Maryland, Baltimore County tomorrow, the Bearcats take with them their fair share of highs and lows.
The roller coaster ride of a season for the Bearcats (5-5, 1-0 America East) began with a three-game losing streak, low-lighted by a nine-goal home loss to Cornell University. Then everything started to click as the talent and experience of the Bearcats came together to win four straight games, highlighted by an exciting 7-6 road win over No. 20 Colgate University.
But, right before spring break, head coach Ed Stephenson unexpectedly resigned as a result of what he deemed to be unfair treatment of his three suspended players. The team’s bright season prospects were suddenly dimmed. The Bearcats proceeded to lose their next two games to Siena College and Lehigh University by a combined score of 26-10 as they tried to find new leaders to fill the void left by the first and only coach in the 10-year Division I history of BU’s men’s lacrosse program.
“It was a little bit of a shock to the guys,” said interim head coach Kevin McKeown. “I think, mentally, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be; physically we were there, but mentally we might have lost that edge a bit. It’s a game of momentum and we lost a little bit of that. But after that, over time, we were able to battle through that, talking a lot about the mental game, our mental preparation and how important all that is.”
Hosting University of Vermont last Saturday to open its conference schedule, Binghamton was in desperate need of a win to turn around its season and get back on the winning track. After trailing by four goals going into the fourth quarter, the Bearcats scored four straight goals to tie up the score, then went on to win in a thrilling overtime period, putting together what could prove to be the team’s best 15-minute stretch of the season.
“I told the guys we had 15 minutes, and 15 minutes in lacrosse is a hell of a long time,” McKeown said. “The guys responded and did a really nice job. I think we turned a corner about halfway through the Lehigh [University] game, when we got a little bit of that mental edge back and started moving the ball offensively real well and cutting hard. I think that definitely carried over … against Vermont.”
With the win over Vermont, the Bearcats have new life in this trying season. The team evened its record at 5-5 on the year and will take an unblemished 1-0 conference record into tomorrow’s showdown with UMBC (2-5, 0-1 AE).
“It’s very important,” McKeown said. “Going into conference play, it was huge to get the win in the first one, being one of those three teams at the top of the conference. Going into this weekend, heading down to UMBC, a place where this program has never won, we’re looking to carry our momentum down there.”
UMBC’s 3-5 record is deceiving, as the Retrievers stacked their nonconference schedule with several highly ranked opponents. The Bearcats will need to deliver another good effort to remain perfect in conference play.
“To beat UMBC, we’ve got to keep winning face-offs like we did, you always want to be over that 50 percent mark,” McKeown said. “We’ve got to improve a little bit with clearing the ball; we don’t want to give the ball back to the other team as many times as we did the other night. I think if we can do those two things, we’ll continue to have some good possessions on offense.”
Binghamton and UMBC will face off at noon tomorrow in Maryland, with the game airing nationally on www.espn3.com.