Opening its season on the road, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team took on No. 3 Syracuse on Sunday afternoon. While BU managed to find the back of the net on six occasions, the Orange overpowered the Bearcats to down the away side 23-6 at the Carrier Dome.

“We knew today was going to be a tough competition for us,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “Syracuse is ranked number three for a reason. Very talented and skilled team with a lot of depth. For us it was more about the opportunity and take away whatever we could from the game. While the outcome [was] certainly not something we wanted, it gave us some things to focus on as we [head] into our Colgate and Bucknell games later this week.”

Binghamton (0-1) has never beaten Syracuse (2-0). The Orange has won all nine matchups between the rivals and put 23 points past Binghamton on Sunday, tying for the most it has ever scored against the Bearcats in its history. The last time Syracuse met that scoring high was in 2007 in a 23-4 result.

The Bearcats held off the Orange in the first quarter of play, as neither team scored for the first three minutes. Once the clock hit 11:11, Syracuse began its scoring flurry, driving six unanswered goals into the Binghamton net heading into the final few minutes of the period. Binghamton registered its first point after 13 minutes of play thanks to freshman attack Olivia Muscolino. Sophomore midfielder Jesse Barer followed up on Muscolino’s initiative, adding another point off a free position to enter the break 7-2 in favor of Syracuse.

“It was nice to see some of our freshmen get on the board and make their mark,” Allen said. “We had a number of freshmen out there get minutes on this level and putting us in a good position as we head into the future.”

Syracuse nearly doubled its total in the second quarter. After freshman midfielder Abigail Carroll found the back of the net with 8:50 left to play, the Orange scored another six unanswered points to end the period 13-3.

Coming out of the halftime break, BU managed to limit the Syracuse offense to five points in the third quarter. Sophomore midfielder Madison Murphy added another point to Binghamton’s total during the period with Barer assisting her.

“If we can treat every game like it’s a Syracuse-level competition, we’re gonna be in a great position,” Allen said. “This was probably the hardest game that we’ll see in our schedule for quite a while, and for us to go in with our mentality today, I thought our [athletes] fought really hard and got some good experience.”

Binghamton continued its defensive efforts heading into the fourth quarter. In each of the first two quarters of play, BU conceded 11 shots. In the third, the Bearcats only conceded five shots and went on to hold the Orange to seven in the final frame. Of those seven shots, five found the back of the net. However, the Bearcats were able to respond, scoring within the initial four minutes and adding a last-second goal thanks to Murphy to further diminish the margin.

Allen credited junior goalie Emily Manning for helping keep Syracuse off the scoreboard as the Bearcat tallied seven saves.

“[Manning], while the score may not reflect it, she did an outstanding job of manning the net for us and really being a staple and director for us down on the defensive end,” Allen said.

Binghamton turned over the ball 17 times throughout the matchup. Allen said that the Bearcats’ struggle to handle the ball well will be a major focus as the season progresses.

“I think we looked a little scared at times out there against Syracuse’s defense today,” Allen said. “We just didn’t handle or take care of the ball today the way we should. Syracuse creating all of the turnovers, some of those were certainly on our end and mistakes that need to be cleaned up. I think that’s our number one focus, just taking care of the ball in possessions and cleaning that side of our game up.”

The Bearcats are slated to take on Colgate next. Their last encounter with the Raiders resulted in a 12-8 victory in favor of BU.

BU’s next game is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 16. First draw control is set for 5 p.m. at the Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, New York.