After forging a comeback 10-9 victory against Vermont last week, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team returned home on Saturday afternoon and recorded a dominant 23-4 against Youngstown State to finish its nonconference slate. The Bearcats came out of the gates firing, capturing the first six goals of the game in the first six minutes and leading 10-1 at the end of the first quarter. After this point, the Bearcats did not look back, scoring 13 more goals down the stretch to earn the victory.

“I think that our focus heading into this week [was] to dictate the tempo,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “The last couple of games, we’ve had to play from behind and we talked about this being a game that we really wanted to get a fast start and, you know, start playing in a way that teams had to play catch-up to us.”

Binghamton (7-6, 2-1 AE) started strong, getting the first goal of the game only 20 seconds in, courtesy of senior attack Madison Murphy. Following the first goal, the Bearcats then scored five more within a six-minute frame. This came courtesy of two goals from junior attack Olivia Muscolino, and one each from sophomore midfielder Emma Blloshmi, senior attack Gabriella Meli and Murphy once again. Youngstown (0-13, 0-3) got on the board at the 7:22 mark in the period. Soon after this goal, though, Binghamton went on a four-goal run in two minutes to take a 10-1 lead going into the second period.

“I thought today was really strong in execution on both sides of the ball,” Allen said. “[I’m] just proud of our team. [We] had some players that got in the game today that really stepped up and owned the opportunity and was excited to see them excel.”

In the second quarter, the Bearcats’ offense did not slow, exploding for seven more goals in the period. On the other end of the field, Binghamton’s defense continued to put the pressure on, holding Youngstown State scoreless throughout the period. Going into halftime, the Bearcats led 17-1.

Youngstown controlled the draw at the start of the third quarter, but BU quickly gained possession back. The ball found sophomore attack Jess Robinson, who passed it to sophomore attack Carla Curth, who found twine. Only a few minutes after this goal, the ball made its way to Murphy, who then scored her fifth goal of the game. The Penguins then made their way to the net, getting on the board once again for the first time since the first period. Blloshimi scored the final goal of the period to give BU a commanding 20-2 lead heading into the final period.

“I think it’s just really important to have those opportunities where players can learn from live game situations and face somebody that they’re not familiar with,” Allen said. “That’s when the adjustments have to be made, and I thought everyone did a really great job with that today.”

As the Bearcats entered the last 15 minutes of play, sophomore goalie Cheyanne Carson-Banister entered the game for senior goalie Sofia Salgado. Once again, BU came out early in the fourth quarter as Muscolino scored her fourth goal of the game. The Penguins then captured the next two points of the game, making the score 21-4. Binghamton controlled much of the remaining minutes of the match, with the ball finding freshman midfielder Keira Bauer, who found the back of the net for her first career goal. With 44 seconds left, Curth capped off the decisive 23-4 win for BU with one final goal.

“It was super exciting,” Allen said. “[Bauer] came out and played two different quarters for us on the draw as well [and] I thought she did exceptional. But to see her have that first goal in her career was pretty exciting.”

The Bearcats will resume AE play at home as it is set to take on UNH this Saturday, April 13. First draw control is set for 11 a.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.