The men’s lacrosse team scored eight unanswered goals in the fourth quarter en route to a 16-9 win against Binghamton University on Monday.
In a game that was originally slated for Saturday at Binghamton but was pushed back due to unplayable field conditions, the Leopards (2-0 overall) pounced on the Bearcats (0-1 overall) after staying neck-and-neck throughout the entire contest. Senior attacker Riley Sullivan’s seven goals made the difference — Sullivan said that the extra practice helped the team perform the way they did.
“We got an extra two days with the scout team,” Sullivan said. “Scout D was giving us good looks, and the Scout O was making our D wired shut.”
The teams traded three goals each in the first quarter. Sullivan was credited with an assist to freshman midfielder Nicholas Blalock on the first goal while also finding the net for the remaining two.
The Maroon and White netted two goals in the span of a minute courtesy of Sullivan and senior defender Cade Kilbride to pull ahead 5-3. Junior goalkeeper Joe Doherty shut the Bearcats out for the entirety of the quarter.
“They have some great players,” Doherty said. “I think we just try to do our best to defend what we know, and then we just go from there.”
The third quarter provided the biggest challenge for the Leopards. After reaching a 7-4 lead early in the period, the Bearcats found the goal three times in the span of two minutes to knot the game up. Sullivan answered shortly after with a go-ahead goal to give the Leopards the advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Binghamton fought back with two quick goals to take the 9-8 lead, its first since the early frame. From that point on, it was all Leopards.
In under three minutes of play, the Maroon and White rained down five goals. Sullivan managed two and was on the assisting end of two, both scored by Blalock. Junior defender Lukas DiGiovanni also added one.
“All my assists were to Nick Blalock,” Sullivan said. “We’re always locking eyes and he’s getting open on the backside, and I’m just there to feed him and he’s doing the hard work.”
The Leopards put the exclamation point on the victory via three goals in the final four minutes, including freshman attacker Clifford Chapman’s second of the contest.
Doherty boasted nine saves on the evening, achieving a .500 save rate at the net. He said he was satisfied with the team “putting a good game together.”
“We worked hard to keep our minds in the right place,” Doherty said. “The defense did a great job and the offense had a great rally there.”
The Leopards will look to stay undefeated at Fisher Stadium on Friday when they take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology (0-1 overall).
