After dropping a match 14-8 last Saturday against UMBC, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team fell 8-6 to the visiting Bryant Bulldogs on its Senior Day.

The Bearcats trailed early and, despite holding the Bulldogs to just one score in the second half, were unable to complete the comeback. With this loss, they fall out of contention for the America East Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

“Proud of the fight the guys showed today,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “I don’t think we had a great first half. I thought overall we gave them some pretty high percentage opportunities, not happy with some of the goals we gave up early. But we tightened up a little bit, I think we played a little bit more confident and obviously in the end just came up two plays short.”

The Bearcats (2-10, 1-4 AE) won the opening faceoff, but a turnover cut their possession short as Bryant (6-5, 3-2 AE) responded with a flurry of shots, none of which found the back of the net. Soon after, Binghamton got on the board thanks to a goal from senior midfielder Gavin Jacobsen, but the Bulldogs added one of their own on the next play.

The Bearcats struggled to close out possessions, surrendering four turnovers before Bryant found twine to take a 2-1 lead. Binghamton nearly evened the score on an attempt from sophomore attack Ryan Meyers, but it rattled off the post and the Bulldogs closed out the quarter with another goal to take a 3-1 lead into the second quarter.

“I thought [graduate student goalie Connor Winters] was seeing the ball well,” McKeown said. “I thought our guys just stuck to the plan a little bit more. I thought we played a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more confident and we talked about wanting to dictate a little bit on our defensive end and I thought we did a better job of doing that in the second half.”

After a man-up opportunity for the Bearcats to open the period, senior midfielder Will Feldmann found junior attack Andrew Girolamo at the edge of the crease as he brought Binghamton within a score of the visitors. Bryant’s sticks, however, stayed red hot as the Bulldogs scored on consecutive possessions to build their lead to 5-2.

Following a blocked shot from Girolamo, Jacobsen recovered the ground ball as he found an unguarded freshman attack Troeger Lombardini near the net, who buried it to make it a 5-3 game. The Bulldogs continued to punish the Bearcats, responding with two consecutive goals and taking a 7-3 lead with over four minutes left in the half. Despite a series of six unanswered shot attempts to close out the half, the Bearcats were unable to score.

The second half opened with several scoreless minutes from both squads, including a man-down situation the Bearcats escaped from. Binghamton was first to get on the board when Girolamo assisted freshman attack Liam Byrne for his first score of the night. Following a pair of Bearcat turnovers, momentum shifted back in their favor with a last-minute goal from Jacobsen, bringing the Bearcats within two scores heading into the fourth quarter.

“I thought in the second half — it was probably like midway [through the] third quarter — I think when we scored our first goal, we just started playing better offense,” McKeown said. “We started creating good opportunities. Unfortunately, we had a few I thought we could have finished but didn’t and that ended up being the difference.”

Binghamton’s defense stayed fierce in the fourth quarter, opening with key forced turnovers, but both ensuing possessions also ended with Bearcat turnovers as they continued to search for twine. After a key save from Winters helped Binghamton evade another man-down situation, the Bearcats finally got back on the board with a bounce-shot score from Byrne, turning their deficit to just one score.

After a Bryant goal was called back for a crease violation, another goal in the final minute of play was challenged by McKeown on the same grounds. The review went the Bulldogs’ way and they held on for an 8-6 victory.

“I think what we want to see is what we saw in the second half here,” McKeown said. “You know us, fight hard and compete, and play offensively, like we did in the last quarter-and-a-half there.”

The Bearcats will close out their 2026 campaign at Vermont on Saturday, April 25. Face-off is scheduled for noon at Virtue Field in Burlington, Vermont.