Kicking off America East play, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team earned a 16-9 victory over visitors UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon. Although the Bearcats trailed 3-2 in the first period, a decisive 6-0 run that stretched into the third quarter gave the Bearcats a lead they did not relinquish.

“I thought we shared the ball really well,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “I thought we did a good job just kind of running our offense. We made the changes maybe a couple of weeks ago and this was the first time we really let the offense work.”

After an early Binghamton (2-5, 1-0 AE) turnover, the Riverhawks (2-4, 0-1 AE) capitalized on the opportunity, scoring the first goal of the game. After Lowell built its lead to two, senior midfielder Tyler Martini found junior midfielder Andrew Girolamo for his first score of the day. Although the Riverhawks responded with a score of their own, Girolamo struck once more to keep the Bearcats within a goal of their opponents.

“I think it was really just the team approach,” McKeown said. “[Girolamo] didn’t try to do too much. I don’t think he took a ton of contested shots with a lot of pressure on him and he got to the middle of the field.”

The Bearcats successfully defended UMass Lowell’s first possession in the second period and junior long stick midfielder Nolan Sharkey completed a clear as he charged down the field and leveled the score at 3-3. After the Riverhawks found twine on the following possession, junior attack Drew Filanowski did the same for the Bearcats and the score was tied up once more.

The squads traded goals once more to make it 5-5, but senior midfielder Will Feldmann found twine to give Binghamton its first lead of the match. With just five seconds remaining in the half, senior midfielder Gavin Jacobsen scored to give the Bearcats a two-goal advantage as they headed into halftime.

“We’ve been really lucky and [graduate student goalie Connor Winters] played really consistently and we feel like we know what we’re getting, week in, week out with him,” McKeown said.

Exiting the break, the Bearcats continued their scoring run, as a shot from freshman midfielder Nico Spaziani made it 8-5 for Binghamton. After winning the ensuing face-off, the Bearcats continued to pad their lead as Martini found twine.

Continuing to dominate the quarter, Girolamo scored his fourth goal, making it a 10-5 game as Binghamton reached double-digits for the second time this year. After the Riverhawks found twine in the closing minutes of the quarter, Sharkey and Girolamo added a goal apiece to put the Bearcats ahead 12-6, but UMass Lowell swung some momentum back in its favor with a goal in the last second of the period.

“The zone definitely slowed us down a little bit,” McKeown said. “I thought we had a couple of turnovers there, but then I thought we responded well. I think [Girolamo] had a goal and then [Jacobsen] had a goal against the zone and then they went out of it.”

The Riverhawks carried their momentum into the fourth quarter, striking first to make the score 12-8. However, after losing the following face-off, the Bearcats forced a turnover and Girolamo continued to hound the net with his sixth goal.

Although UMass Lowell responded with a goal, Jacobsen’s second goal kept the Bearcats ahead by five. Their stout defense forced a pair of turnovers over the Riverhawks’ next five possessions as they were held scoreless. Putting the game out of reach, Girolamo scored his seventh goal, just one score short of Binghamton’s single-game goal record.

The final score of the match came as Filanowski added his second goal. Binghamton held out for a 16-9 victory to open conference play.

“First conference game, we talked about going 1-0 this week,” McKeown said. “So it’s nice to be in that position now, moving into next week and everyone is huge. Today, half the [conference] separate to the top and half go to the bottom, so it’s nice to be on that top half.”

The Bearcats will continue AE play against NJIT on Saturday, March 21. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium in Newark, New Jersey.