In the second quarter of the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team’s matchup with Vermont, redshirt senior attack Tom Moore found himself with the ball, guarded by an undersized defender. Keeping his distance, he cradled and waited for the perfect moment to strike. With the Catamount defense lulled to sleep, Moore dished the ball to junior midfielder Stephen Petrelli, who darted toward the net and buried a goal.
The moment perfectly captured Moore’s demeanor on the field.
“He doesn’t do anything outside of the scope of what our offense is trying to do,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown.
Moore used his imposing 6-foot-3-inch figure to test his defender and barreled toward the net to add a goal to his stat column — not that he took much notice.
“Numbers don’t really matter; it’s about coming out here and getting a win,” Moore said.
It’s this humility that makes his performance for the Bearcats all the more impressive. Nine games into the season, Moore leads the Bearcats with 51 points from 29 goals and 22 assists. His 5.67 points per game ranks third among all NCAA Division I players.
With a goal in the second quarter of BU’s win over Lafayette on Saturday, Moore broke the Bearcats’ single-season points record of 46. He is currently on pace to top the program’s single-season records for both goals and assists.
But Moore, himself, was unaware of his potential program records.
“I’m going to try to stay unaware of it,” Moore said. “I’m just going to focus on playing lacrosse and being out here with my boys.”
Moore’s selflessness may be his best trait.
“A lot of people look up to [Moore],” McKeown said. “[The way] he gives his teammates credit for his success has been a big part of our success.”
When Moore straps on his helmet, he adopts a sixth sense — a certain instinct that allows him to understand the game around him and play with perspective. For all intents and purposes, Moore is a student of the game. Raised in the lacrosse mecca of Suffolk County, Moore picked up the stick at an early age and hasn’t set it down since. He went on to play for West Islip High School, where he won two New York state class A championships, earning First Team All-Tri-State recognition in 2012.
“[Moore] grew up in a lacrosse town, one of the best programs in the country,” McKeown said. “He’s played in a lot of championship games growing up.”
Moore’s exposure to success followed him to college. In his freshman year, Moore played for Denver, a collegiate lacrosse powerhouse that brought him to the 2013 Final Four in Philadelphia. That season, the Pioneers fell to Syracuse in an overtime heartbreaker, but that moment was rich with lessons.
“The biggest thing we concentrated on when we were there was just playing how we knew how to play,” Moore said. “I’ve translated that into my game for years since.”
After transferring to Jacksonville for his sophomore and junior seasons, Moore blossomed into a prolific scorer, amassing 74 points in his two seasons with the Dolphins.
Moore’s explosive performance this season with BU is the latest chapter in the story of his lacrosse career. So far, Moore’s excellence on the field and experience on some of lacrosse’s biggest stages have been a driving force for the Bearcats, who were selected to finish last in the America East Conference before the season began. But they have now raced out to an 8-1 record, and are on a seven-game win streak.
“We wanted to come out here and prove some people wrong,” Moore said. “We’ve done a little bit of that so far, but we’re not even close to finishing the job.”