The Binghamton University men’s lacrosse team now has its first winning streak since 2008 after handling Hobart College 11-5 at home to tally the team’s second win in a row.
After delivering a complete effort at Canisius to get into the win column, the Bearcats (2-3) followed it up with an even more convincing performance, outplaying Hobart in almost every facet of the game. After a sloppy, turnover-filled first quarter, Hobart led 1-0, but from that point onward it was all BU as the Bearcats went on to score nine unanswered goals over the course of the second and third periods to build a sizable advantage from which the Statesmen could not recover.
BU head coach Ed Stephenson was very pleased with the way the men played and how they responded to the veteran leadership on the squad.
“Last game, we had a few seniors, [senior defenseman Derrick] Danieu, [senior midfielder David] Raleigh and [senior midfielder Frank] Donlon really lead us, and kind of show us the way,” he said. “What I was proud of today was that the other guys really followed them. The attack men hustled on the rides, the defense hustled to ground balls and guys are buying in.”
Pacing the Bearcats offensively once again was sophomore attack Matt Springer, who scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season to extend his point-scoring streak to 19 games, the entirety of his collegiate career thus far. Helping out Springer with the scoring burden was junior midfielder John Clark, who scored the first two goals of his career, while sophomore Tyler Perrelle had a goal and two assists.
Also having a hand in the offensive production was Raleigh, who continued his recent scoring tear by notching another pair of goals, giving him six in his last two games. In addition, Raleigh once again stopped the bleeding with his scoring, relying on his veteran savvy to prevent a potential Hobart comeback.
After a momentary lapse by the Bearcats that allowed Hobart to score three goals in less than four minutes early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 9-4, the Bearcats turned to senior leadership to solidify the victory. Raleigh scored an empty-net goal a few minutes later to put the victory on ice.
“At the end, I don’t think we did a great job at getting open and moving the ball a little quicker when they had some pressure on, and that’s how they got a few goals on us at the end,” Stephenson said. “So we need to learn how to be more poised in those situations, when we got a nice lead. But the guys found a way. Raleigh understood that the goalie was out of the net, and there was some pressure, but he did the right thing and ran around his guy and scored the goal, so that’s the kind of recognition that we need out of everyone.”
Another player who the coach praised was senior attack and faceoff man Chris Cook. Aside from recording a goal and an assist, Cook was very solid in the faceoff circle, winning 8-of-19 faceoffs in one of the best efforts of the season for the Bearcats in that department.
“Chris Cook was huge for us,” Stephenson said. “Last year they beat us bad in the faceoff circle, and today we almost won 50 percent, so that really made all the difference for us in winning the game.”
The team and coach’s outlook on the season has been revitalized by the recent two-game winning streak after the Bearcats had dropped their first three games. But Stephenson warns against complacency.
“I’m really proud of these guys. Guys are buying in,” he said. “Now my hope is that even more guys pile on and that we really start playing together, hungry and hard to get some more wins.”
The Bearcats will try to even their record at 1 p.m. tomorrow when they are set to host Marist College.