The woes for the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team continued, as it suffered a defeat to Stony Brook in a 13-6 match on Friday night to remain winless.
“Stony Brook played a great game tonight,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown, per bubearcats.com. “We didn’t do a good enough job in the ground ball battle. We need to stick together as a group and get ready for UMBC on Saturday.”
The Seawolves (5-4, 2-1 America East) got out to an early lead in the first quarter, jumping ahead 3-0 with four minutes left in the first. The Seawolves’ lead only widened from there as they maintained dominant control over the course of the match. Stony Brook junior attack Tom Haun was a force for the Seawolves on offense, netting six goals and an assist. He was efficient on shooting, converting on six of his seven shots on goal. Haun largely got his points off dodges, either behind the goal or from the goal line extended, as Binghamton’s defenders were not able to stop him.
Stony Brook scored most of its goals throughout the course of the match from actions initiated at the goal line extended, but later on in the match, it started looking for more opportunities and netted several goals off feeds near the crease, as well as the occasional fast-break opportunity.
Binghamton’s defense was unable to adjust, as its help defense was lackluster, allowing for potent one-on-one matchups for Stony Brook. The Seawolves took advantage of short-stick matchups on their more dangerous scorers. Binghamton (0-8, 0-2 AE) did show flashes of promise defensively, however, as they had several periods with aggressive play on that end.
BU’s minimal offense came from several sources, with five different players scoring for the Bearcats. Senior attack Griffin Konen was the only multi-goal scorer, logging two. The team scored in a variety of ways, but several goals came from late slides on the wings by Stony Brook. The Bearcats were able to get several shots on goal, yet Stony Brook junior goalkeeper Michael Bollinger turned in a strong performance as he saved 13-of-18 shots on goal. Stony Brook’s defense, more often than not, forced Binghamton into outside shots, as only a few of the Bearcats’ scores came from near the goal.
The Bearcats’ front man on offense, senior attack Joe Licata, has been solid this season, with 18 points through eight games, though he has slowed down in recent games, scoring only two points in the last three matches for BU.
The Seawolves dominated on ground balls, which allowed them consistent control of the game, as they had 38 shots and 26 on goal. Thirteen of those were saved by Binghamton’s goalies, redshirt junior Kevin Carbone and sophomore Robert Martin.
Neither team was dominant on faceoffs, which were rarely clean. Most turned into a battle for the ground ball, with Binghamton securing 10-of-21. Stony Brook sophomore Nolan Enneguess was the only consistent faceoff man, as he went 7-10 on the night.
Although both teams had multiple chances on man-up possessions, each only converted once, with Binghamton 1-of-5 on the night and Stony Brook 1-of-4.
Binghamton will look to break its eight-game skid when it plays UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference opponents will battle at noon on Saturday, April 6 at UMBC Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.