Riding a three-game win streak after dropping its season opener to Ohio State, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team faced another tough early test on Wednesday, hitting the road to take on Cornell.
And against the Ivy League giant, the Bearcats (3-2) were taken to school, falling, 22-3.
“I think we came out pretty flat [on Wednesday],” BU head coach Stephanie Allen said. “And against an athletic team as Cornell was, if you come out and you’re off your game or you play flat or you fail to compete for 60 minutes, they’re going to exploit that and capitalize on those opportunities.”
CU (4-1) jumped out with two quick goals in the contest’s opening minute en route to establishing a commanding lead, 6-0, before 10 minutes of play had elapsed. Working to get Binghamton on the board, sophomore midfielder Callon Williams found the back of the net on the first of BU’s five shots in the half to make the game 6-1.
By comparison, the Big Red let off a whopping 22 shots in the first 30 minutes — and they didn’t miss much either. Cornell stormed past Binghamton after Williams’ goal, putting up five more goals in just 10 minutes. Senior attack Brianna Russo put the Bearcats back on the board with an unassisted netter of her own to cut CU’s lead to 11-2, but the damage was already done. Cornell posted two more goals before the end of the period, forcing the Bearcats to head into the locker room facing an 11-goal deficit on the road.
While Binghamton led Cornell in saves in the first stanza, its failure to win in the draw-control battle — only taking 5 of 16 — and gain free-possession opportunities, took control away from the BU offense.
“We honestly didn’t have the ball a whole lot,” Allen said. “It’s hard to really get extra looks on the cage if you’re not possessing the ball for long periods of time.”
The Bearcats came back onto the field with a greater sense of urgency with the onset of the second half. After junior attack Emily Tripodi scored her fourth on Binghamton to open up play, making the score 14-2, sophomore attack Brianne Arthur found the third BU goal of the game after a feed from Williams.
But Arthur’s goal, scored just past the 28-minute mark in the 30-minute period, was the last that BU saw for the remainder of the game. It was also the last non-free possession shot that BU would see on Cornell’s net in the game’s next 15 minutes. The Big Red offense, however, continued to roll. CU put up eight consecutive goals in the contest’s remaining minutes — capped by a nail-in-the-coffin goal with 24 seconds to go — to blow BU out, 22-3.
The Bearcats did improve their draw control clip in the half, going 5 for 11. BU also found a slight defensive edge to win the caused turnover game for the entire contest, tallying nine to Cornell’s eight. But, and perhaps most importantly, the game gave Binghamton a chance to see another high-tempo offense in Cornell, which, according to Allen, will pay off down the road.
“It’s an opportunity,” Allen said. “When we get into conference play, we’re going to see teams of this caliber or even better. This is an opportunity for us to get on the field and show our level of competitiveness and growth. Today was a little eye opening.”
With little time to recoup, the Bearcats are set to continue their non-conference stretch at home on Saturday against Marist. Despite the small turnaround window, Binghamton is hopeful looking forward, having already seen two of the toughest teams in the nation on the road.
“We’re going to chip away at it and get back at it [Thursday] with a rejuvenated sense,” Allen said. “With a kind of a different focus from here on out for the remainder of the season.”
First draw control against Marist is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.