The Binghamton women’s lacrosse team has taken some significant steps on the field in 2014. Those strides, though, seem far in the past.
Binghamton (6-9, 0-4 America East) remains winless in conference play this season following a 19-7 loss against Vermont at Virtue Field on Saturday.
The Bearcats, who trail fourth-place New Hampshire by two games with one tilt remaining, will fall short of an America East tournament berth. The program has never reached the postseason since joining Division I for the 2002 season.
“It’s going to be a little bit more of a marathon than a sprint to get to where we want to go,” BU head coach Stephanie Allen said.
The team started strong against the Catamounts (11-5, 2-2 AE), leaning on its stars to apply offensive pressure. Freshman attack Brianne Arthur scored on a free-position shot to put the Bearcats up early. But Vermont answered Arthur’s score with four goals to own a three-point lead. The two sides would trade goals throughout the remainder of the half, with Vermont taking a 6-3 lead into the break.
“In the first half, we were competing in the draw control,” Allen said. “The defense did a nice job minimizing some of [Vermont’s] bigger threats.”
The three-goal deficit would be the high water mark for BU in the second half, as Vermont scored four goals in the opening six minutes to increase the margin to seven. Junior midfielder Renee Kiviat scored her second goal to try to stop the bleeding, tapering the score to 10-4, but the Catamounts kept rolling on to their huge victory.
“[In the second half], it came down to who won the 50/50 balls and Vermont was coming up with the majority of them, especially the draw controls,” Allen said. “They did a nice job capitalizing on some of our little mistakes out there, and ultimately playing a lot of defense.”
The Catamounts used a barrage of shots to gain their advantage in this game, outshooting Binghamton, 39-22. The Bearcats also had trouble with turnovers, losing 21 to Vermont’s 13. Binghamton did better in the faceoff circle, however, winning 13 of 27 draws.
The Bearcats’ offense was led by Kiviat, who recorded her second hat trick in three games. Rounding out offensive contributions were Arthur and junior attack Alex Fisher, who added two goals apiece. In net, sophomore Erin McNulty played a decent game, saving eight shots on net.
Now BU, after starting the season with a program-best 6-3 record and hopes of making its first conference appearance, is eliminated from playoff contention.
“We are a better team now than we were last year, regardless of how we are doing in conference right now,” Allen said. “We are playing with a lot of young players that still have a lot of time and room for development.”
Next on Binghamton’s schedule is a match with UMBC, each team’s last of the season. Also eliminated from playoffs, the Retrievers (7-8, 1-3 AE) are currently a spot above the Bearcats in conference, at fifth place.
“This game does not have a lot of meaning as far as final standings go, but we want to focus on ourselves and string together 60 minutes, and play a smarter game,” Allen said.
The Bearcats will have the opportunity to finish their season strong in front of their home crowd, where they are 4-3. Before the game, Binghamton will honor its three graduating players: seniors Erica Foley and Angela Vespa, and junior Kara Pafumi.
The season finale against UMBC is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.