The Binghamton men’s lacrosse team dropped its season-opener to Marist at home with a score of 11-9. Senior attack Kevin Winkoff led the Bearcats with a hat trick paired with two assists, and graduate student attack Justin Roderka added another two goals and an assist.

“[Marist] popped the first two in, and then we kind of settled in a little bit and cleared the ball a little better and got some offensive possessions,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “We were able to put up seven in the first half, but [Marist] tilted the possession battle. Going into that third quarter, they scrapped a little better at the face-off than they had. We found a couple clears, proud of the way we competed today, the way we stayed together. I think we took a good step from our last scrimmage, we have to continue to work and get better.”

The Bearcats’ (0-1) offense got off to a slow start, ending the first quarter with one goal and four shots on the Marist (1-1) net. In the second quarter, Binghamton’s midfield found its rhythm, as redshirt sophomore midfielder Thomas Greenblatt and sophomore midfielder Ethan Insinga both found the back of the net to tie the score. Winkoff soon followed with a goal of his own immediately after faceoff to take the lead. Binghamton retained control of the quarter until halftime, leading or tied in every statistic for the second quarter besides saves.

Binghamton was able to find success on faceoffs, as sophomore face-off specialist Ross Chazanow and junior face-off specialist Matthew Desouza combined to win 14 out of 22 throughout the match.

“[Chazanow] did a nice job getting the ball out in front and creating some potential transition offense,” McKeown said. “Him and [Desouza] do a great job, they really support each other well, they battle and make each other better. It’s a good one-two punch there to have.”

This match became a game of runs, as the Red Foxes responded in the third quarter outscoring BU 4-1. The Bearcats took 14 shots compared to Marist’s six, but both had five on goal. Marist senior goalkeeper Anthony Novellano had two saves in the third on the crease to prevent the Binghamton offense from scoring and finding a rhythm.

“Continuing to understand it’s a game of runs, work on being able to mentally make the next play, not allow those four-goal runs like we saw there and maybe cut that to a two-goal run,” McKeown said. “We’re a little bit young in terms of how many practices we got in on the field so far, we’ll continue to work this week and work toward getting a win next weekend.”

Roderka managed to find the back of the net on a buzzer beater to end the third quarter off of an assist from junior midfielder Nicholas Imburgia. The third quarter ended with the teams tied at 8-8. Despite Roderka’s point, Marist entered the final quarter with all of the game’s momentum.

Binghamton was unable to halt the Marist offense, which netted three unanswered goals before the Bearcats managed its final point at the six-minute mark.

The Bearcats are set to return to the field on Saturday, Feb. 19 against St. Bonaventure. Faceoff is scheduled for noon at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.