Binghamton University’s men’s lacrosse team had the ball with one minute left in the match. Head coach Ed Stephenson called a timeout, drew up a play and Binghamton took the field trailing the nationally-ranked, Drexel Dragons, 3-2.

But Drexel’s defense, which had played physically all match, harassed Bearcats attackman Chris Mulheron into rushing his pass, intended for marksman midfielder Steve Carlson to score the tying goal. Mulheron’s pass was intercepted and the Dragons (3-1) ran out the clock, ending Binghamton’s first match of the season and its first ever at the Bearcats Sports Complex.

Drexel moved up from No. 15 to No. 14 in this week’s United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches poll.

Binghmaton’s loss overshadowed an incredible performance from its goalie, senior Larry Kline, who made 13 saves. In the third period alone, Kline made seven spectacular saves, including several one-on-one stops and one where he finished the play on the ground. Drexel keeper Bruce Bickford made his own contribution with 11 saves.

“Both goalies played some of the best lacrosse I’ve ever seen,” Stephenson said. “They had two All-American performances today. It was just amazing. [Kline] shut the door on close shots, and I thought their goalie played just as well.”

Kline’s third-period heroics set up a fourth period where both teams had opportunities to win. Drexel’s Joe Wojciechowski struck first, scoring with 11:15 remaining to put the Dragons up 3-1.

With a little over one minute left in the game, junior attackman Jake Boyce ran around the crease and beat Drexel keeper Bruce Bickford to bring Binghamton within one. The Bearcats’ faceoff man, J.P. Wioncek, who was 3-for-7 at the time, won the final face-off to give Binghamton the ball with an opportunity to send the game into overtime.

Kline was able to hold the Dragons to just three goals, but his offense sputtered, outshooting Drexel 36-24 but missing the goal completely on many open shots.

“We had some good looks in close, and we just couldn’t finish them,” said Stephenson. “I’m disappointed in our shooting.”

Though Binghamton is a defensive team, Stephenson said he had no intentions of playing such a low-scoring game. “3-2, that’s a soccer game. I like soccer, but I like lacrosse to be a little higher scoring than that.”

“At least we know we can hold top-tier teams to a few goals, so defensively it’s a plus,” Kline said.

The Bearcats had key contributions from several freshmen, including midfielder Mike Sciarrino, attackman Frank Donlon and defender Derrick Danieu. Donlon and Danieu started the game, and Danieu was named America East Rookie of the Week on Monday.

“We certainly learned a lot about ourselves today,” Stephenson said.

SPRING TIME IN ITHACA: Binghamton’s match at Cornell has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. on March 25. The match was unplayable due to weather last Tuesday.