The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team was ravaged at the hands of Hobart College, with a final score of 16-7. Coming off a 13-12 loss at Lafayette College last Saturday, the Bearcats looked to rebound, but could not do so, as the Statesmen (3-1) controlled the score for most of the game.
“I think we had a good idea of who they were coming in,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “We knew they were a fast-paced team. We knew they scored a lot of goals in their previous games.”
Less than two minutes into the game, Hobart got on the scoreboard first, but five minutes later, the Bearcats (0-3) scored the first of three unanswered goals. Senior midfielder Joe Licata found the back of the net on an unassisted second-chance shot to tie the game, and senior midfielder T.J. Tiernan followed up with a goal 30 seconds later almost immediately off the faceoff.
It took another three minutes for the Bearcats to find the back of the net again. Senior attacker Griffin Konen hung around the back of the goal trying to feed a cutting teammate but decided to take it in himself, diving around the crease and scoring to put the Bearcats up 3-1 with under five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Hobart scored four unanswered goals, including a man-up goal in the second frame after a holding penalty on a Binghamton defenseman. The Bearcats got on the board once more before the half when junior midfielder Jon Perotto’s shot from close range was deflected by a defender’s stick and snuck into the top right corner.
The Bearcats trailed 5-4 at halftime, with 17 shots on goal to Hobart’s 32 and three faceoffs won to Hobart’s eight. The Bearcats’ deficit in shots on goal and faceoffs proved crucial in the second half, allowing the Statesmen to pull away and hold a comfortable advantage for the remainder of the game.
“It was tough when they were winning the faceoffs,” McKeown said. “It was like they kept having possession after possession, and when we weren’t getting stops or we were failing clears, it was tough to get the ball to our offense. That was really a huge thing in the outcome of the game.”
Konen scored his second goal of the game in the third period on a one-handed feed in front of the goal from sophomore attacker Jackson Rieger. Later, less than two minutes into the final quarter, sophomore attacker Sean Makar put up his only goal of the game on the assist from Licata. Konen and Licata were exchanging passes at the top of the box when Licata dumped it to Makar, who was sitting to the right of the crease. In between, however, the Statesmen tallied six unanswered goals over a stretch that lasted across eight minutes into the fourth quarter.
The game was dominated by Hobart’s aggressive offense, which outshot Binghamton 66 to 39 and took 20 of 27 faceoffs. Senior midfielder Jack Sullivan faced off for the entire first half, but was subbed out for other teammates in the second. At times, the Bearcats’ offense was slow to start possessions and had eaten up valuable shot clock time.
At the beginning of the second half, sophomore goalie Robert Martin was subbed out for redshirt junior goalie Kevin Carbone, who went on to allow 11 goals on 34 shots.
“That’s just a planned thing,” McKeown said. “We’ve been doing it all year, playing Robert [Martin] the first half and Kevin [Carbone] the second half. It wasn’t anything performance related — it was just how we’ve been playing our goalies.”
Coming off faceoffs, the Hobart offense managed to create opportunities and control possessions, having seven extra-man opportunities to the Bearcats’ two. The Statesmen and Bearcats were almost even in turnovers with 18 and 16, respectively.
Binghamton will look for its first victory of the season when it plays at Delaware next Saturday, March 9. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. from Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware.