Coming off its first win of the season earlier in the week, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team fell to the Marist Red Foxes on Saturday. The Bearcats (1-4) were defeated by the Red Foxes (1-4) in a 17-7 loss in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Junior attack Paige Volkmann netted an early goal to give the Bearcats the first lead of the game. Marist quickly responded with a goal of its own, but sophomore attack Emily Masera was able to add another one to help reestablish the Bearcats’ early lead. However, the Red Foxes were quick to put their foot on the gas.

“I think we were up against a really strong goalkeeper, but [we] just didn’t have the patience on our shots and didn’t take the time to place,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “I think we lacked confidence out there and grit. It’s something we continue to work on every day, but we need to emulate in practice more so that we can step out and have that in place on game day regardless of the opponent.”

Starting at the 23:06 mark of the first half, the Red Foxes scored six unanswered goals to take a 7-2 lead. The Bearcats were briefly able to put an end to the onslaught with two goals: the first scored by junior midfielder Alyssa Sanchez and the second scored by Masera. However, the Red Foxes responded with five more unanswered goals to end the half with a score line of 12-4.

The Bearcats started the second half with a goal from senior midfielder Alissa Franze, and Sanchez scored an additional two goals to give herself a hat trick, but the Bearcats were facing an uphill battle and failed to convert most of their shot attempts into goals. The Red Foxes secured the final four goals of the contest to put an end to the competition and walk away with the victory.

“I think [Sanchez] did a really good job and played a lot of minutes,” Allen said. “She’s somebody that doesn’t seem to get tired out there and continues to fight. For an entire 60 minutes, both on the draw controls and her shots out there, she worked incredibly hard.”

While the Bearcats had around the same amount of shots and shots on goal as Marist, they were largely unable to convert them into the goals necessary to get back into the contest.

With the season still in its early stage, there are several areas where the Bearcats can improve during the several nonconference games remaining before conference play.

“I think we continue to work hard on the ground ball battle and draw controls, and we need to stay at 50 percent on those or better than our opponents,” Allen said. “I think this was a game that we were able to have the highest number of shots that we’ve had so far but again we need to make sure that we’re converting on those. Those are things we’re looking to dial in on going forward.”

Next up for the Bearcats is a home game against Niagara on Tuesday, March 3. Opening draw control is set for 3 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.