With the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team down by one against winless Hartford with 23 seconds remaining, the Bearcats took a timeout. Senior attack Justin Roderka had just scored BU’s fifth unanswered goal, and they were looking to force overtime after trailing the Hawks 8-2 in the second quarter. However, coming out of the timeout, the Bearcats were only able to get one shot off in the last 23 seconds. The shot flew high over the goal, and BU lost the game 8-7.

“We didn’t come out and play the way we wanted to or needed to to get our footing early on in the game,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “And credit to Hartford, they came out firing and put some early ones in on us.”

The Bearcats (3-3, 3-3 America East) fell behind 4-0 to the Hawks (1-5, 1-5 AE) in the first quarter of play. Sophomore midfielder Thomas Greenblatt was able to counter the Hawks’ hot start by scoring a goal with under seven minutes remaining in the first quarter to make the score 4-1. The Hawks went on a three-goal scoring streak before junior attack Kevin Winkoff scored to make the game 7-2 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

The rest of the game was more competitive than the first quarter. The Hawks scored with 13:32 remaining in the second quarter to make the game 8-2, and immediately after freshman faceoff specialist Ross Chazanow won the faceoff, charged down the center of the field and ripped a shot into the net for the Bearcats. The second quarter ended 8-3 with both teams scoring one goal.

The third quarter saw one goal from sophomore midfielder Ryan McBeth who capitalized on a man-up opportunity in order to cut the deficit to four goals. Redshirt sophomore goalie Teddy Dolan improved on his play from the first half and made four saves in the third quarter.

“In the second half, I think defensively, we just played a little bit better and we forced some lower angle shots and some easier shots to save,” McKeown said. “We helped a little bit better on defense. When you do that it just takes a little bit of pressure off of the goalie, not leaving him on an island.”

The Bearcats fought hard to win the game in the fourth quarter. As a team, the Bearcats took nine shots, scoring on three of them, and Dolan came up with four more saves. Despite a hat trick from McBeth and a 16-save game from Dolan, it was too late for the Bearcats to make a recovery.

“I’m proud of the way we responded and came back in the second half,” McKeown said. “We showed a lot of grit. You know, we shut them out in the second half, but games are 60 minutes and we didn’t play well enough over 60 minutes to get the win.”

The Bearcats’ loss marks their third loss of the season and puts them just outside of the fourth playoff spot in the AE. With three games remaining, the Bearcats still have a shot at making the playoffs. However, they will have to beat two of the top four teams in the AE, Stony Brook and Vermont.

Binghamton will continue its season next week against Stony Brook on Friday, April 16. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m. at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, New York.