When Binghamton University’s men’s lacrosse team traveled to last-place Hartford on Saturday, it didn’t expect to be in a dogfight late in the game. But the Bearcats (4-7, 2-3 America East) regrouped at halftime, came out on fire in the second half and were able to down the Hawks 10-5, ensuring an America East playoff berth and dooming Hartford (0-13, 0-5) to a winless season.
The Bearcats entered the locker room at the half up only 5-4. Nothing was clicking, and a playoff berth was on the line. Head coach Ed Stephenson stressed the fundamentals to his team, rather than changing his strategy halfway through the game.
“I don’t think we played the defense that we talked about prior to the game,” Stephenson said. “We let up a couple of easy goals from the crease, and we threw the ball away on offense.”
After a quiet third period where sophomore Jeff Rurey scored the period’s only goal, Binghamton’s super sophomore and freshman classes combined for four goals in the pivotal fourth period.
Freshman David Raleigh opened up the 4-0 run by beating Hartford’s entire defense on a fast break when Binghamton was man-down following a penalty. Raleigh, primarily a defensive-minded midfielder, also notched an assist on a feed to sophomore Andy Cook during the run. Just minutes later, Cook’s classmate Adam Mazzoni cut across the crease and received a tough pass from Stephen Smith to score his first goal of the season.
As impressive as the freshman were, they played second fiddle to the Bearcat sophomores — four of whom were named to the AE All-Rookie team in 2007 — who combined for six goals. Attackmen Chris Welch and Jeff Rurey led the way with two goals each.
The scoring output was a welcome change for the Bearcats, who averaged a paltry 4.9 goals per game before Saturday, and who scored just two goals during three different games this season. The 10 goals against Hartford represent the only double figure scoring game for Binghamton.
After playing a physical first half and beating Binghamton to the ground balls, Hartford spent most of the second half in penalty trouble. Despite coming in winless, the Hawks could still have earned the last playoff spot with a win over the Bearcats.
“It was a spirited, physical game. They were fired up,” Stephenson said. “It was their senior day. They still had playoff aspirations, and they needed to beat us. We were shocked that they hadn’t won a game.”
Binghamton returns to the AE Tournament for the fifth straight year. As the last team to qualify for the four-team tournament, No. 4 seed Binghamton will face host and regular season champion Maryland-Baltimore County (10-3, 5-0) Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The Retrievers, who are undefeated in conference play and ranked No. 5 nationally, are all but assured of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. UMBC has won nine straight games to finish the regular season. When the two teams faced off in the regular season, sophomore Matt Latham scored a career-high five goals as UMBC prevailed 10-5. Rather than completely revamp his game plan, Stephenson will still be preaching the little things to his young team.
“We didn’t play fundamentally sound (in the last meeting),” Stephenson said. “I want us to focus on limiting their transition opportunities and we have to do a better job of taking advantage of opportunities. When we see an advantage, we have to get in and play. We tend to stay back behind the cage when we have an advantage in front of the cage.”
Binghamton averaged just 3.5 goals against nationally ranked opponents this season.