Riding a five-game losing streak won’t help a team’s confidence, but perhaps it will serve as motivation. This was not the case Saturday for the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team, who suffered a 22-7 loss at the hands of the nation’s 11th-ranked team, the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Vanderbilt built a 13-4 lead at the half, a result of taking a whopping 29 shots in only 30 minutes of play. Commodores junior Sarah Downing tallied five goals and an assist as Vanderbilt ran away with the game.
On Wednesday the Bearcats faced America East rival UMBC and suffered a 16-4 loss.
Binghamton’s loss to UMBC was their sixth in a row as they continue to head in the wrong direction this season. The Bearcats still have three road games remaining on their schedule. They have dropped four of five away games this season.
UMBC senior Abbey Swift scored two of her five goals as the Retrievers grabbed a 3-0 lead five minutes into the game. The Bearcats responded as freshman Riley Newman and junior Lizzie Wright each scored a goal to cut the deficit to 5-2. UMBC closed the half with four unanswered goals to take a 9-2 lead.
Binghamton’s offense continued to stall in the second half. Freshman Lis Zuern opened the half with an unassisted goal, which turned out to be the Bearcats’ lone goal for 17 minutes. The score was already 14-3 by the time BU registered its fourth and final goal of the game.
“We played a very good UMBC team. When we’re in conference we need to come ready to play for 60 minutes when we play a conference opponent,” said head coach Tony Zostant, according to a Binghamton University press release.
A telling statistic for the game was shots on goal, as UMBC out-shot BU, 29-20, on the game.
Zostant, despite the loss, was happy with the play of Kelsey Pieper, one of his seniors.
“The outstanding player of our game was Kelsey Pieper, who played an outstanding defensive game, and I look forward to seeing more of that in the future,” added Zostant, according to the press release.
Pieper had three draw controls as well as intense defensive energy throughout the game.
The conference season continues for Binghamton when they take on Albany at the Bearcats Sports Complex this Saturday at 7 p.m.