Behind a sensational performance by reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Peter Baum, Colgate snapped the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team’s two-game winning streak Tuesday at Andy Kerr Stadium with a 12-5 victory.
Baum, a senior attack, scored six goals, combining with sophomore attack Ryan Walsh to account for 10 of the Raiders’ scores.
But the Bearcats (2-3) got on the board first as senior midfielder Shane Warner scored an unassisted goal with 11:44 to go in the opening frame. That was the first and only time the Bearcats would hold a lead during the contest.
“We came out and started out OK,” Binghamton head coach Scott Nelson said. “But they just had the ball so much and had so many good shots on us that they were able to pull away.”
Baum followed Warner’s goal with two of his own to give the Raiders (5-2) a 2-1 lead, which they would not relinquish.
“They have a very, very good, dynamic offense,” Nelson said. “They have last year’s player of the year, and they were able to give him some great looks at it and he had six goals … That was a big difference-maker right there.”
Nelson said they would look at how they defended Baum in order to play better defense in the future.
“But you have to give [Baum] a lot of credit, too,” Nelson added. “You don’t see a player like him every day.”
The leading scorer for the Bearcats on Tuesday was junior midfielder Kelly Donigan, who recorded his first career multi-goal game. Both of his goals were unassisted.
“I think that shows what Kelly can do,” Nelson said. “I think he can do this a lot more. We’d like to see, obviously, more of that. He’s a big, strong, smart kid, who shoots the ball very hard and … we’re hoping to see more of that.”
Continuing their excellence on the field this season, Binghamton junior midfielder Michael Antinozzi and sophomore attack Tucker Nelson each scored a point for the fifth consecutive game this season. Nelson set up red-shirt junior attack Matt Springer for a goal at the 10:01 mark in the third quarter to bring the game within five points. Antinozzi, on the other hand, scored his lone goal, his eighth of the season, at 8:31 in the fourth quarter.
Binghamton junior goalie Max Schefler had another solid game between the posts, saving 11 goals on 23 shots on goal, marking his fourth game of the season with at least 10 saves.
But Colgate won the possession battle and was able to fire off 42 shots during the game. Binghamton lost both the faceoff (8-13) and ground-ball (19-30) battles.
“Obviously we’d like to have the ball a little more,” Nelson said. “In the first half the faceoffs were even, but we turned the ball [over, and] unforced errors in the first half really killed us. That gave them double the possessions we had and that’s why they had triple the shots.”
Colgate out-shot the Bearcats 42-20.
Losing the possession game has hurt not only Binghamton’s defense, but Binghamton’s offense, as well. And despite Nelson’s belief that the new NCAA rule changes would benefit BU’s offense, the Bearcats have yet to score 10 goals in a game this season. Nelson, however, remains optimistic.
“I think we’re getting good looks,” he said. “I don’t think we’re getting less shots … We’ve met some real hot goalies … so I think we just need to place our shots a little better. Our shot selection is getting better and better, so I think we’re going to be alright in the future.”
The Bearcats are next scheduled to take on Manhattan at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.