It was 3:50 on Friday afternoon and snow blanketed the field of the Bearcats Sports Complex. Event staffers were shoveling around the goals and the lines were being cleared. The stage seemed to be set for another dark event in Binghamton University women’s lacrosse history.
But perhaps the gods were trying to tell us something different; the white snow was a symbol of a new beginning for Binghamton at their Bearcats Sports Complex debut, which the Bearcats rallied to win against the Colgate Raiders, 12-11.
With the score knotted at 11, BU senior Leanne Musso finished a solo run across the goal’s mouth and put in the winning goal.
“We were tied and we were supposed to stall a little,” said Musso on the setup for the shot. “I passed on my eight meter [penalty shot] and went behind the net, where I shouldn’t have been. The goalie came out and I just ran around her and put it into the open net.”
The Bearcats (1-1) forced a turnover right after their goal and held the ball for the remainder of the game.
When the clock expired, there was pure jubilation on the sideline and on the field as the team equaled its win total from the previous year.
“It was truly awesome,” said BU defender Kara Slowik, adding that the team is now undefeated at home and they’d like to defend that.
Musso was more practical, saying it was good to win their first game so early because it gave them momentum leading into the rest of the season.
It was a good sign that the game would be different for Binghamton when freshman Beth Moore won the opening face-off.
Less than two minutes later sophomore Tracy Weinstein found freshman Lisa Illig in front of the crease and Illig sank the game’s first goal. After Colgate (1-1) answered back with two of their own goals, Weinstein again found an open Bearcat, this time junior Julia Demuth, for her second assist of the match.
Binghamton would need to keep up their scoring because of Colgate’s precision in the early going as the Raiders connected on four of their first five shots.
“When we’re on offense, we can score,” Musso said. “We needed possession.”
With Colgate leading 5-4, Red Raider Molly Carroll took a shot that bounced off of the bottom of the crossbar and was called a goal by the officials. This call led to an apparent lack of confidence for the Bearcats and they went into the locker room at halftime down 8-4.
At the break, BU first-year head coach Tony Zostant told the team to keep playing hard and remember the little things.
“We just clicked,” Slowik said. “The whole team played really well.”
Freshman Ali Castiglie, the America East Rookie of the Week, stepped up for the Bearcats scoring two unanswered goals less than five minutes into the second half. This was the kind of momentum the team needed. BU went on to net five of the next eight goals including the game winner by Musso.
Freshman goalkeeper Lauren Scott replaced senior Sandra Alvarez after a one-save, first-half performance.
“If something’s not working, we’ll try to fix it until something else goes wrong,” Slowik said.
Scott finished with six saves and allowed three goals.
The team’s next game is this Friday against the UMBC retrievers at the BSC.