“Really proud of the way the guys fought,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “We asked for them to give a little more at halftime — to be able to do better on ground balls — I thought we buckled down defensively and gave it our best shot there, but just came up a little bit short there.”

BU (9-5, 5-2 AE) opened the game stagnant offensively as Bryant (11-4, 5-2 AE) took advantage and struck first, scoring two goals less than four minutes in. The Bearcats responded as sophomore attack Matthew Keegan got on the board off an assist from redshirt junior midfielder Thomas Greenblatt. Neither team had success on offense for the next five minutes until the Bulldogs scored their third goal of the game. Binghamton responded with three unanswered goals to take a one score advantage. However, Bryant snuck a goal with 17 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game going into the second frame.

“[Keegan] and [Greenblatt] were a great one-two punch,” McKeown said. “I think either one of them could’ve been offensive player of the year, but good to see [Greenblatt] get that and [break] the assist record at the school. So I think both of those guys were huge pieces that play great off one another. They’re great people and great leaders on our program.”

The Bulldogs found the back of the net first in the second period, scoring 35 seconds in. Shortly after, senior midfielder Quinn O’Hara brought the score even once again. Despite the back-and-forth nature of the game, Bryant took control for the remainder of the half, outscoring the Bearcats 5-2 as Binghamton entered the break, down 9-6.

“[Bryant] was able to win a couple of faceoffs quick and got the ball back,” McKeown said. “They’re a team that does go on runs, and we saw that in our first game against them and we’ve seen that in other games of theirs this year.”

Facing a three-goal deficit heading into the second half, BU immediately got to work as junior midfielder Ethan Insinga netted a goal two minutes into the period. Greenblatt made it a one-score game and Insinga knotted it up to cap a three-goal run by the Bearcats. The Bulldogs’ one and only goal of the quarter came with just under three minutes remaining as they took a one-goal cushion heading into the final frame.

“We definitely wanted to limit transition looks,” McKeown said. “[Bryant] got a few of those in the first half, so that was one thing. We wanted to make sure we were helping when we needed to. It felt like in the first half we didn’t do that quite enough so that’s what we wanted to look to do [in the second half].”

In the fourth quarter, O’Hara managed to tie the game at 10 less than two minutes into the frame. However, the Bulldogs answered with two consecutive scores to take the lead once again. With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, Adams found the back of the net to make it a one-score game. In a last-ditch effort to send the game to overtime, the Bearcats had one last chance in the final minute. Despite getting three shots, including one that hit the post, Binghamton could not secure the equalizer as it fell short 12-11.

Insinga led the scoring with a hat trick while O’Hara, Keegan and Adams both added two goals apiece. Greenblatt added one and tallied two assists in the process. Sophmore goalie Connor Winters was between the pipes for BU and accumulated nine saves.

“I’m proud of them,” McKeown said. “They put themselves in positions to make some plays, hit a couple of pipes, just came up one play short, unfortunately.”

The loss ends Binghamton’s season in the AE semifinals for the second consecutive year in a row. Nonetheless, there were many accolades earned by the Bearcats this season. Greenblatt broke the program’s single-season assist record en route to being selected as AE Player of the Year. Additionally, Greenblatt, along with Keegan and Winters, were selected to the All-Conference First Team. Keegan led the conference in goals and points per game, while also ranking tied for seventh in the nation with 3.36 goals per game.

“In terms of overall success, it was a good step forward for us,” McKeown said. “But unfortunately, we kind of ended at the same spot as we did last year with a one-goal loss in the semifinals. We just gotta use that as another learning experience and continue to propel ourselves, continue to tell the story of Binghamton and our program. I think we still have a few more mountains to climb, and I think the future’s bright here.”

My first two years here could best be summed up as directionless. I came to Binghamton University undecided, so I took about as many different classes as you could imagine, hoping to find my calling. However, this didn’t naturally happen like I thought it would, and after my first semester, I felt even more confused than when I first arrived. What compounded this confusion even more was COVID-19, which caused the next year and a half to be a complete blur. When I think back to that time, I have trouble recalling what I did other than sleep and attend Zoom University. I struggled to live in the moment, and because of that, this period was not as productive as it could’ve been.

During the year of COVID-19, friends and family would always ask the big question — “What do you want to do with your life?” Whenever I told people, “I’m not sure yet” or “I’m still figuring it out,” I was often met with seemingly disingenuous words of encouragement. Despite having support from nearly 100 percent of my friends and family, I couldn’t help but notice their subtle concern about me not having any idea of what’s next. And I didn’t blame them — my apparent lack of direction or ideas was a huge red flag, and most importantly, I was concerned about my future as well.

The fall semester of my junior year is when school started to feel normal once again. By this point, I had finally made the decision to become an English major but still had no idea what I would do with it. Then, in the middle of September, I received an email from the English department’s Listserv advertising an open position for Assistant Sports Editor at Pipe Dream. I didn’t know it then, but that email kicked off what would become my identity for the next two years.

I really had no idea what to expect. I had no connections to Pipe Dream, and I never had any experience in journalism, but I knew I loved sports, and that was enough. Anyone who knows me is painfully aware that sports control my life. Most of the time, you will find me either watching, playing or doing something related to sports. Before, it used to be one of my main sources of procrastination, but now my obsession could finally be productive.

During my interview I met Joe and Ian, who were leading the section at the time. They explained the position and the responsibilities, but what I remember most is how cool and professional they both were, and I admired the way they conducted themselves. I felt an immediate connection to them and knew I wanted to be a part of this. Even with no prior experience, they decided to take a chance and hire me, and I’ll forever be grateful for their trust and belief in me.

After this, Pipe Dream quickly controlled my life. It became my biggest priority and responsibility — something I had lacked during my first two years—and for the first time since high school, I felt like I was productive again, doing work that I actually enjoyed. As a result of being busy again, I felt more present, and with Pipe Dream at the forefront of my responsibilities, I finally had some kind of idea of a career path I could follow.

Throughout the year, my love for sports journalism only grew as I became more comfortable interacting with coaches and players. Joe and Ian were the best mentors I could’ve possibly hoped for, coming in as a complete novice. With their friendship and guidance, I felt ready to take on the responsibility of Sports Editor.

This past year has been nothing short of memorable. Having the responsibility of leading an entire section was not something I had foreseen coming into college. On top of having that role, the relationships and friendships I’ve been able to develop will stick with me for the rest of my life. Being in an environment that I felt comfortable in made it easy to live in the moment and appreciate the time I spent with everyone in the office. Now, at the end of my time as Sports Editor, I pass the torch to Johnny and Jake, who I know will continue to build up the Sports section.

However, even now, having established my identity and found my place here at school, I’m not quite sure what I want to do with my life. What I am sure of is that as long as I continue believing in myself and the decisions I make, I’ll end up where I’m meant to be. These four years have shown me the paths that I can go down — it’s up to me whether I take them or not.

As I think back to some of the most important moments of my college experience, there are times when I wish I had been more present. A common cliche is to live every day in the moment and not take anything for granted. Whenever I heard someone say that, I’d always roll my eyes and think to myself how ridiculous and impossible that was. But now that I have time to reflect, it’s not really about being present all the time — it’s about making the effort to be. When you take yourself out of a situation, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to make a meaningful impact, and it shows. Being present, whether at work or socially, shows that you care. This past semester, I realized how important that is and have really made an effort to be present for my friends and family. While it can be exhausting, you realize that what you give is truly what you end up getting back.

Nick and Mason — my roommates for all four years — when I randomly joined your suite as a single in Digman Hall, I had no idea I would be joining guys I would be living my entire college career with. Through all of the ups and downs, you guys made my college experience and are two of my best friends.

To Matt, Rich, Travis and Woods — you guys have always been there for me. We’ve had some great moments and I appreciate the friendship you all have shown me. Thanks for welcoming me into your group — and your couch after a night at Red Jug — these are the memories I’ll always remember.

Life is filled with uncertainty, and for me and most people, that can be an extremely frightening thing. But it’s so important to not let that uncertainty weigh you down and prevent you from reaching your full potential. In the movie Kung Fu Panda, there’s a quote by Master Oogway that has always stuck with me — “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Uncertainty is what kept me in a box for my first two years here. Pipe Dream lit a path and I took it. Good things in life will happen if you go after it so don’t wait for the perfect option to present itself to you. You have to go and make it happen. Today is the ultimate gift. It’s up to you to be present.

Jack Oh is a senior majoring in English and is Sports Editor. He was an assistant sports editor from 2021-22.

Torrence is the highlight of this transfer group, coming from in-state Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent Syracuse. Before Syracuse, Torrence played two seasons at Big East school Marquette, and attended both Vermont Academy and Syracuse Academy of Science for high school. Last season at Syracuse, Torrence played in 31 of its 32 games, averaging just over 11 minutes a game. The six-foot-three-inch guard managed decent shooting splits during his limited minutes, shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Despite averaging just 2.4 points per game, the highlight of his year came against Oakland, where he dropped 12 points and five assists in just 12 minutes. During his junior year, Torrence played slightly more, averaging 13.1 minutes per game, including a 40-minute showing in the ACC quarterfinals against Duke where he tallied seven points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

Chenery comes to Binghamton after playing three full seasons for Quinnipiac. During his freshman campaign, the Philadelphia native averaged 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, and earned Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) All-Rookie team honors. In his sophomore year, Chenery started in 30 of the Bobcats’ 31 games, averaging 8.3 points per game. However, this past season, the six-foot six-inch forward faltered a bit as his scoring average dropped down to 5.3 a game, and he started in only 19 of Quinnipiac’s 32 games. He joins the Bearcat roster with career shooting splits of 39.7 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three-point range.

After missing his freshman season due to injury, Walker played in 17 games for Little Rock last year. Despite coming off the bench in all of his appearances, the guard made an impact, scoring in double figures on five separate occasions, including a collegiate career-high 18 points against Memphis. Walker averaged 7.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game last season, shooting 34.6 percent from the field and 36 percent from three.

With four Bearcats confirmed to be transferring, Torrence, Chenery and Walker will attempt to reinforce the roster for next year. Joining the trio of transfers is soon-to-be freshman forward Gavin Walsh, who officially committed to Binghamton a few weeks ago. Along with Walsh, two other high school seniors have signed, but have yet to verbally commit.

“Disappointed we didn’t win the series,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “[I] thought we showed a lot of character trying to come back in games one and three, but just dug ourselves too big of a hole to be able to do that. Thought we did some good things.”

In game one, the Bearcats (22-16, 8-7 AE) immediately got on the board as senior outfielder Cavan Tully hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning. UMBC (22-19, 11-7 AE) matched the hosts’ score with a run of its own in the top of the second. After BU failed to score in the bottom of the frame, the visitors broke the game open in the top of the third, plating nine runs to take a 10-1 lead.

Despite falling into a deep deficit, Binghamton made an attempt to get back into the game. Sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli smacked two home runs, one in the third and another in the seventh inning. In the seventh inning, the Bearcats scored four total runs with additional RBI singles hit by sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan and junior designated hitter Kevin Reilly. This, however, was not enough to recover as the hosts lost game one 10-6.

“[Roselli]’s a hitter,” Sinicki said. “He knows what he’s doing in the box. He has a good game plan. He uses both sides of the field very well, and he’s a guy that I have tremendous confidence in when he comes up to the plate. Rarely does he give away an at bat.”

In game two, Roselli got the offense started in the bottom of the first, ripping a double into left-center field that scored two runs. Junior outfielder Tommy Reifler followed him up with a sacrifice fly in the second to give BU a quick 3-0 lead. The third and fourth innings remained scoreless, but the Retrievers managed to put up one run each in the fifth and sixth inning, and two in the seventh to take a 4-3 advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, with two outs and one runner on, Gsell smacked a ball deep into left field that carried the wall and gave the hosts the 5-4 walk-off win. Senior pitcher Jack Collins earned the win as he came in for the final 1.1 innings, giving up just one hit and two runs.

“I thought [the win] was really important,” Sinicki said. “To get a walk-off home run by Gsell in the bottom of the inning was obviously very important. I was kind of hoping it would lead us to a little momentum in game three, but [UMBC] scored early, and then we tied it, they took the lead and unfortunately the dagger was the three-run homer.”

UMBC took an early lead in game three, plating runs in the first two innings and holding Binghamton scoreless until the fourth. The Bearcat offense came around in the bottom of the fourth when Sullivan blasted a two-run homer over center field. Despite Binghamton tying the game up at two, the Retrievers responded with five unanswered runs, with four coming in the seventh inning, to go up 7-2.

In a comeback effort, during the bottom of the ninth, the Bearcats began to chip away at the lead as a Reifler RBI single cut the deficit to two. Roselli then reached on a fielder’s choice that scored another run, making it a 7-6. This brought Gsell up with another opportunity to win the game. However, he was unable to deliver as he popped up to third base, as Binghamton was defeated 7-6.

“You’re not going to win every game,” Sinicki said. “Things aren’t going to go your way every time, but if you’ve got guys in the dugout [that] don’t give up, and we’ll fight until the 27th out is made. Hopefully, it gets us through some tough times down the road because those are the types of things that good teams can build off of and never lose faith, never lose hope and always compete right to the very end.”

BU returns to action on Tuesday, May 2 against in-state rivals Cornell. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.

Round one began on Monday at Talking Stick Golf Club, with freshman Brandon Conner carding an even par round of 70. This was good enough to place him tied for third after the end of the first round. Despite a shaky front nine that included three bogeys, Conner recovered on the back nine, tallying three birdies to bring him toward the top of the leaderboard.

“[Conner] played really well today,” said Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg. “He finally made a few putts on the back nine. We started off slow and tried to fight back. I’m proud of how they kept their composure throughout the round, but we had a few mishaps toward the end. We’ll get some work in now and be ready for tomorrow.”

Senior Evan Sitts and sophomore Shawn Colella both shot five over par in round one and tied for 17th. Additionally, sophomores Ryan Millevoi and Tynan Jones sat in ties for 23rd and 27th place, respectively, at the end of day one. Going into round two, the Bearcats found themselves in fifth place overall with a team score of 296 strokes.

After round two, the Bearcats remained in fifth place. Conner followed up his impressive round one with a five-over score of 75 that dropped him eight spots into a tie for 11th. Sitts and Colella managed to improve their scores from round one, both carding rounds of 73 as they sat tied for 19th. Millevoi, meanwhile, dropped to a tie for 26th with a round two score of 80, and Jones carded an 82 to round out the BU team.

“Tough finish for our guys today,” Herceg said. “We were playing pretty solid through our first nine, and we were looking to finish strong, but unfortunately we weren’t able to. [Sitts] had a real good round going, and it’s too bad he had a tough last hole. We’re looking to have a good round tomorrow and finish strong.”

On Wednesday, Binghamton played the third and final round of the tournament. The Bearcats scored the same as they did in round two with a total team score of 301, 21 over par. Conner and Sitts turned in round three scores of five over par to finish in ties for 16th and 18th, respectively. Millevoi also shot a five over 75 to finish with a net score of 21 over par to secure 27th place. Colella shot a 76 to finish the tournament in sole possession of 20th place, and Jones ended his tournament with a nine-over round to finish in 29th place.

BU ends its season with no first-place victories despite participating in 10 tournaments across the fall and spring seasons. The Bearcats’ best finish of the year was at their home meet back in October during the Matthews Auto Intercollegiate where they finished seventh out of 10 teams.

“We were hoping to finish strong today, but it was a tough scoring day for us, and we didn’t manage our games as well as we should have,” Herceg said. “Tough tournament, we worked real hard leading into this event and didn’t get the results we wanted. Our young players will learn a lot from this tournament and be stronger from it.”

“I made a conscious decision to get some guys in early in the game who don’t typically play,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “We let our starters play the first three innings, and then I wanted to get some guys some at-bats and some time in the field.”

After a scoreless first inning, BU (21-14, 7-5 AE) began its attack on Siena (9-32, 3-9 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference [MAAC]) in the bottom of the second. Sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan led off the inning with a single up the middle. In the next at-bat, junior designated hitter Kevin Reilly kept the line moving with a double into right field. The Bearcats plated their first run of the game when sophomore infielder Devan Bade hit an RBI single. Junior shortstop Isaiah Corry continued the offensive output with another RBI that brought Reilly home.

The hosts were relentless in the second inning as they loaded the bases, with sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli ripping a single into right field to score two more runs for the Bearcats. Furthermore, a pick-off error by Siena brought junior outfielder Mike Gunning home from third, and two straight walks loaded the bases again.

“I’m just really glad to have as many guys contribute to a win as we did,” Sinicki said. “It makes everybody feel good and sets up the next two days of practice for everyone to be in good spirits and feel like they’re valuable members of the team.”

Despite a pitching change, the Saints couldn’t keep Binghamton from scoring as a Reilly walk brought Roselli home. The walks and runs kept coming, with junior outfielder Tommy Reifler walking on a full count to send senior first baseman Kevin Gsell home. Soon after, a fly out from Bade ended the inning with the bases still loaded and the Bearcats possessing a 7-0 advantage.

While Siena managed to load the bases in the top of the third, BU protected the lead and prevented the visitors from getting on the board. However, in the fourth inning the Saints scored their first run of the game off of a single into center field. The Bearcats answered in the bottom of the frame when sophomore outfielder Logan Haskell and Bade hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to plate Gsell and junior first baseman Andrew Tan, respectively, increasing the lead to 9-1.

“It’s always tricky when you want to throw multiple guys in a game,” Sinicki said. “The risk is there that everyone is not gonna have their best stuff. That’s the risk you run. It’s really impossible for everyone to be on point in one particular game or day, so I felt like our command wasn’t great in a lot of situations.”

Although Binghamton did not score for the rest of the game, it held Siena to just three more runs total to secure a 9-4 win. The Bearcats threw nine different pitchers, including junior pitcher John Lumpinski, who was credited with the win. Lumpinski only threw one inning, but struck out three of the five batters he faced.

“We gotta make sure our bullpen is ready to go,” Sinicki said. “We’ve been getting good starting pitching and that’s always a great thing, but no one is throwing nine inning complete games. So we’re gonna have to get good help from our bullpen, and our situational hitting hasn’t been all that strong this year. I think we need to do a better job of moving runners when we have an opportunity, and do a better job of getting guys in from third base.”

BU returns to action this Friday, April 28 against UMBC. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.

“They did a pretty good job of competing, despite tough conditions,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “Overall I thought it was a good step toward the conference meet next weekend.”

BU sent six athletes to the Cavalier Challenge in Virginia where Chigatayeva came away with a first-place finish in the 3000 steeplechase invite event. The Bearcat clocked in a time of 10:07.78, slightly slower than her program record-breaking performance at the Raleigh Relays last month.

“It was another solid race for [Chigatayeva],” Thompson said. “She was running by herself for most of the race, so she wasn’t really challenged and consequently the time wasn’t her best, but it was still a really solid time. There aren’t many people in the entire country that can challenge her, so it’s hard to find a meet where she isn’t the best one, but I think it sets her up really well for the rest of the season.”

Junior Jenna Chan was the only other Bearcat at the meet to register a top-10 finish. Chan competed in the 100 hurdles and placed 10th with a time of 13.88, good for second all-time in Binghamton history.

At Bucknell, graduate student Spencer Thomas was the only first-place finisher, earning the win in the discus throw with a toss of 155-1.00 feet. Sophomore Robert Menocal also competed in the discus and placed third with a 151-1.00 foot throw. Additionally, sophomore Jaston Ormsby came in second in the hammer throw with a 180-7.00 foot throw. On the women’s side, junior Gianna Hoose secured fourth place in both the discus and hammer throw events with tosses of 127-7.00 feet and 151-6.00 feet, respectively.

“The throwers are doing really well, the men and the women,” Thompson said. “So I think they’re just continuing to perform like they have for most of the year.”

Binghamton turned in a plethora of podium finishes at Bucknell. Senior Nick Malfitano and junior Marcus Johnson turned in a pair of second-place runs in the 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, respectively. Malfitano registered a time of 15.03 and Johnson came in at 55.65. Senior Nick DeFelice placed third in the 3000 steeplechase, clocking in at 9:32.52. Moreover, both freshman Samson Joseph and junior Taiki Hirooka earned bronze in their respective events. Joseph crossed the line in 49.57 and Hirooka finished in 22.27.

On the women’s side, the top finisher of the meet was sophomore Zoe Rose in the 1500 event. The Bearcat secured a second-place finish with a time of 4:41.15. Freshman Angie Mesa-Espinosa followed Rose up with a third-place time of 12.57 in the 100-meter event. Fellow freshman Alyssa Armitage earned second in the pole vault with an 11-11.75 foot leap.

“We pride ourselves on having a balanced team,” Thompson said. “A team that has athletes in all the events, and this week showed that for sure.”

When the final scores were timed and tallied, the Bearcat men earned third place overall out of nine teams competing at Bucknell. Now heading into the championship portion of the season, Binghamton will adjust its approach in training over the next few weeks.

“Training for us this time of the year is more about getting sharp, maybe a little less volume,” Thompson said. “Just allowing the athletes to recover a little bit so they can be at their best at the conference meet … The intensity stays up, but the volume drops. That allows them to feel, recover and get more fresh as they compete in the championship season.

BU will return to action next weekend at the Penn Relays starting on Friday, April 28. Events will take place all day Friday and Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“When you plan on using that many pitchers like we do in midweek games, in order to be really successful, everybody that comes in has to have their stuff and has to be on,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “That’s a lot to ask at any level. The fact that we were able to get through last night limiting [Cornell] to four hits, no runs and everybody pitched in, I thought that was really great for how our guys have been working.”

Freshman pitcher Dan McAliney got the start on the mound for BU (18-10, 5-1 America East [AE]). The Bearcats blanked Cornell (4-19, 3-6 Ivy League) in the top of the first inning and wasted no time bringing in runs. After getting two men on base, senior first baseman Kevin Gsell drove both in with a single up the middle. A scoreless second inning led to sophomore second baseman Nick Roselli ripping a line drive that had just enough juice to carry over the right field wall, bringing in two runs to double Binghamton’s lead to 4-0.

“We got some big hits when we needed to,” Sinicki said. “[We] not only took the lead but extended it and that helps too when you’re trying to get some other guys some pitches in the game.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the hosts managed to load the bases but were unable to bring anyone in. Junior pitcher Justin Rosner pitched the third and fourth innings without allowing a single run and striking out three Cornell batters in the process. Both sides remained stagnant on offense in the fifth as the score remained at 4-0 heading into the second half of the ball game.

The Big Red managed to get a baserunner on in the top of the sixth, and the Cornell opponent attempted to steal second base. However, sophomore catcher Evin Sullivan popped up and gunned down the runner at second to end the inning. The Bearcats capitalized in the bottom of the frame as Roselli hit an RBI single to extend BU’s advantage to 5-0. In the next inning, the hosts added to their total with an RBI double slapped down the third base line by junior outfielder Tommy Reifler.

“[Sullivan] is a big part of this program and he was a big part of our success last year,” Sinicki said. “To get him back in the lineup is important … It’s not just comforting to me and my coaching staff, but I think the players know it as well.”

Cornell threatened to get on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth inning. The visitors managed to get two on base but were unable to plate any runs as the game entered the final inning at 6-0. In the top of the ninth inning, senior pitcher Jack Collins came in to close the game. Collins shut the door on Cornell with 12 pitches and struck out two of the three Big Red batters he faced.

“I think we did a good job defensively,” Sinicki said. “We made all of the plays that we needed to and it was kind of a nice complete midweek effort for us.”

Binghamton totaled eight hits in the contest with Gsell and Roselli leading the way with two apiece along with two and three RBIs, respectively. Reifler also managed a hit that drove in a run to give the Bearcats a 6-0 win over their in-state opponents. BU has now won 14 of its last 17 games heading into a weekend series against top-ranked Maine who is 9-0 in AE play.

“When we haven’t had one area going, other areas kind of stepped up and helped us out,” Sinicki said. “Everybody in the program, all different areas, whether it’s on offense or defense or pitching, I think we’ve been able to complement each other really nicely over the past few weeks, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful.”

BU will host Maine for a weekend series starting on Friday, April 14. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Bearcats Baseball Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I think our team has been bringing great energy lately,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “That showed on Saturday at Bryant. Whether we’re home or away, we’re really just trying to continue improving from game to game. For us it was an important game, not having played Bryant before, and really just wanting to make a statement on who we are and what we’re capable of this season.”

The first quarter began with the Bearcats (10-4, 5-0 AE) and the Bulldogs (6-6, 2-2 AE) trading goals. However, with just under six minutes in the frame, the visitors began to pull away with unassisted scores from senior attack Kenna Newman and sophomore attack Olivia Muscolino. Bryant would score once more — although Binghamton’s lead wasn’t threatened, as the hosts found the back of the net twice after to bring the lead to 6-3 at the end of the period.

Bryant opened the second quarter with a three-goal burst to tie the game at 6-6. BU would respond with five straight scores to enter halftime with an 11-6 advantage. Sophomore midfielder Abigail Carroll added two scores during this span to complete her hat trick.

“We did have a couple moments that maybe weren’t our best performance,” Allen said. “But I think we showed again that we can make adjustments, find our strengths and revert back to what we know, and not just get caught up in what a team is showing us that we haven’t seen before.”

Offensively, the third period saw both teams slow down significantly as there were only three goals total. After the Bearcats struck first in the second half, the Bulldogs answered with a goal of their own. However, this would be the last time the hosts would find the back of the net for the rest of the game. Senior goalie Emily Manning was solid between the pipes as she collected 10 saves, with six coming in the second half.

“That second half performance, defensively, was something I was really proud of,” Allen said. “Especially our goalkeeper [Manning], really playing solid between the pipes.”

Binghamton would not let up in the final period either, tallying six unanswered goals. Newman found twine twice to open the quarter, finishing the game with four goals and seven assists. Newman’s seven assists bested her own single-game assist record she set earlier this season, and her 11 total points set a new career high and is second all-time for a single-game. The senior was also awarded the AE player of the week honors along with the Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week for the first time. The visitors scored four more times, with contributions from Muscolino and sophomore attack Marisa Tancredi. Both Bearcats completed their hat tricks in the final quarter as BU pulled away for a comfortable 19-7.

“[Newman] did a great job of keeping her hands free, keeping her head up,” Allen said. “Whether it was finding space for herself and creating or the ability to get the ball off to teammates, just an all around great performance by [Newman].”

With its undefeated 5-0 record in conference play, Binghamton earned itself a spot in the AE tournament. The Bearcats are the first team in the conference to clinch a spot in the postseason, setting a program record for wins in a single season with their win over Bryant.

“Winning certainly builds confidence and brings an energy in itself,” Allen said. “But I think they’re really working for it and earning it everyday. We talked before the season started about the goal of ours to not just make it, but win [the AE Championship]. That’s really been apparent with our play this season.”

BU will host Albany for its senior day game on Saturday, April 15. First draw control is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I think we’ve been preparing the right way,” said Binghamton head coach Jess Bump. “We were losing these [close] games earlier on in the season, and now we’re winning them. So I think it just goes to show all of the hard work the girls have been putting in.”

Binghamton (14-7, 2-0 America East [AE]) wasted no time getting started on offense, as sophomore outfielder Laney Harbaugh led off the game with a single. Redshirt sophomore utility Lindsey Walter followed that up with a hit of her own to put two runners on base. The next at-bat, redshirt sophomore outfielder Brianna Santos, singled into left field to bring Harbaugh in for the first run of the ball game. Later in the inning, graduate student infielder Alli Richmond hit a single up the middle to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead over the Big Red (8-9, 2-1 Ivy League).

“Our bats were really good all day,” Bump said. “It’s probably the hardest we’ve hit the ball in the last week, so just keep working to get barrels … Obviously we want to be scoring a little bit more throughout the game after scoring in the first inning, but we always just talk about trying to find a way, and we did that today.”

After the first inning, the offense stalled for both sides as neither team was able to score a run. However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cornell got on the board with a hit that brought in a run to make it a 2-1 game. With two runners on base and one out, the hosts looked to tie or take the lead. Despite this opportunity, the Bearcats found a way to get out of the jam as they completed a double play with a close out at-home plate.

“I don’t think anyone has been getting frazzled,” Walter said. “I think under pressure we just stay locked in. We’re more focused.”

Freshman pitcher Brianna Roberts got the start on the mound as she pitched 4.1 innings and only gave up one run. Entering the final two innings, the visitors held a one-run lead over the Big Red. In the top of the sixth, BU loaded the bases with only one out. The Bearcats could not bring in any runs, however, as a flyout to left field led to a double play at the plate. In the bottom of the inning, the hosts took advantage of their opportunity as a solo home run tied the game at 2-2.

In the top of the eighth inning, AE player of the week sophomore outfielder Sarah Rende slapped in a single, but managed to reach second due to an error. Two batters later, junior catcher Hailey Ehlers brought Rende home with an RBI double that proved to be the winning run. Binghamton blanked Cornell in the bottom of the frame with Walter on the mound, earning the 3-2 victory and the team’s fifth consecutive win.

“Coming up to bat I knew that I had to get a job done,” Ehlers said. “I knew I wanted to get a hit for my team. [Rende] did a great job getting on, taking that extra base. And I knew, going up [to bat] I just needed to stay composed and get a hit.”

BU will make the trip to face defending AE champions UMBC for a three-game series starting on Saturday, April 1. First pitch of game one is scheduled for noon at the Diamond at UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland.

“Overall it was good to compete again,” said Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg. “We got done with our last tournament, and we’re not being able to play and get out on a golf course and stuff. So it was great to get down there [on] green grass and compete. So that respect, it was good. The entire team needs to play, so it was good I was able to take the whole team.”

After the end of round one, BU sat in 11th place with a combined score of 10 over par. Freshman Brandon Conner spearheaded the Bearcats’ scoring with a one-under showing on day one. This result placed him in a tie for 17th going into round two.

“[Conner] had a great round yesterday played really solid, really consistent,” Herceg said. “And the whole weekend really played consistent all weekend, and today had a really solid, good round. Striking was really good, and if he putted it a little bit better, he would have been a bit better than what he had.”

Fellow freshman Sean Shen was not far behind as he posted an even par round of 72 which was good enough to tie for 24th overall. Senior Evan Sitts finished round one in 37th place, shooting two over par with a total score of 74. Additionally, sophomores Shawn Colella and Tynan Jones finished near each other as they turned in scores of 76 and 77, respectively.

Day two saw Binghamton falter a bit, shooting 17 over par as a team and totaling 603 strokes. Sitts was the top finisher for the Bearcats as he registered an even par round that shot him up 17 spots from his day one position. Sitts ended the weekend two over par with a tied-for 20th-place finish.

[Sitt’s] is our captain,” Herceg said. “And he’s definitely the leader of the team when it comes to being the captain, but he kind of shows it from his work ethic, and playing mostly all our events. Because he’s played in them, and especially this one, he’s had some success here at Rum Pointe in the past, so that definitely carried over and I think he had some good feelings going into it because of that.”

Conner could not repeat the success he had on day one as he shot five over and dropped 16 spots to finish tied for 30th. Shen shot a six-over round of 78 in round two to earn a 45th-place finish. Shen’s score did not contribute to the team’s total as the Bearcat participated in this tournament as an individual.

Jones improved his position by two spots, carding a 76 and ending the tournament tied for 58th. Colella dropped 12 spots, following up his day one score with a seven-over round of 79 to finish tied for 66th.

“We have a lot of talent getting more and more experience,” Herceg said. “And that’s why I’m trying to get everybody to play as much as possible. Even when we go to these events to bring some individuals because the more these younger guys compete and play, they’re just going to, in the future for us, really be strong. So [I’m] looking forward to it.”

BU combined for a score of 17 over par on day two which was seven strokes worse than their performance on day one. This led to a 12th-place finish for the Bearcats who turned in a final score of 27 over par. Long Island University took the tournament with a dominant showing, carding a 15 under-par performance beating second place by 14 strokes.

“The biggest thing is the weather up here just hasn’t been the best for getting out and playing golf because no golf courses are open,” Herceg said. “Now that I think the golf courses are going to open here next week, it’s really going to play into you know, having everybody’s game a little bit more sharper getting into the month of April.”

BU returns to action at the Villanova Invitational on Monday, April 10. Tee times are scheduled for 8 a.m. in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

“Winning three games on a weekend is difficult in college baseball no matter who the opponent is, where you’re playing [or] what the conditions are,” said Binghamton head coach Tim Sinicki. “So I’m really happy that we were able to find a way to get all three wins … Are we quite where we want to be yet as a ball club? Not yet, but we’re getting there. We saw some good things and we just have to keep moving forward and working hard like the guys do all the time.”

After two scoreless innings, junior outfielder Tommy Reifler led off the bottom of the third with a double into left-center field. This sparked the Bearcat (8-7) offense as they loaded the bases with no outs. After picking up two outs, BU plated its first run of the day as sophomore infielder Nick Roselli drew a walk to bring in one run. However, Lafayette (3-16) tied the game in the top of the fifth with a double that was hit deep into center field.

Binghamton broke the stalemate in the bottom of the eighth after an error by the visitors allowed the hosts to steal a run. During the next at-bat, junior shortstop Isaiah Corry added to the lead, hitting a sacrifice fly into center field. After that, senior outfielder Cavan Tully followed Corry up with a single slapped into left field to give the hosts a 4-1 advantage that they ultimately protected to win game one.

“Our team works really hard,” Reifler said. “Our coach says it’s a game of throwing the ball and catching the ball, and as we get outside more, we’re doing a really good job of sticking to that. We don’t get outside very often, but the chances we get, we’re looking better each day, so we’re looking to keep it going in the future.”

Game two saw both sides remain stagnant for its majority, as it was scoreless through four innings. The Leopards, however, broke the tie with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning to take the first lead of the game. Despite this, the Bearcats answered in the bottom of the inning, plating four runs spearheaded by an RBI single from junior outfielder Mike Gunning and a two-RBI double from senior first baseman Kevin Gsell.

In the next inning, the visitors managed to knot the game up at four courtesy of a two-run single. After holding Lafayette in the top of the seventh, BU had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the inning. Gsell led off with a double into right center, and three batters later, sophomore outfielder Logan Haskell had an opportunity to win the game with a runner on first and third. Haskell laid down a sacrifice bunt that allowed Gsell to score the winning run and secure Binghamton’s 5-4 walk-off win.

“I think it just speaks to the character of the guys we have in the program,” Sinicki said. “Fortunately, we have a lot of experience in the program right now. So I think, the guys who have played a lot of innings for us, they believe in themselves. They believe in each other … So again, really credit to our guys for hanging in there and finding a way.”

The final game of the series was an offensive battle as both teams scored in the first inning. After six innings, the Bearcats held an 8-5 lead with contributions from both sophomore infielder Devan Bade and Gunning. However, in the seventh and eighth innings, BU scored six unanswered runs to break the game open and take a comfortable 14-5 advantage. The Leopards were only able to score one more run in the top of the ninth as Binghamton cruised to a 14-6 win to complete the sweep.

Five different Bearcats had multiple hits in the final game, including Reifler, Tully, Corry, Gunning and Bade. Reifler and Gunning both drove in three runs apiece to cap off productive weekends.

“We always tell the guys every year that we’re not ever gonna be good enough where we can just let one or two guys carry our team,” Sinicki said. “We have to have contributions from everybody, and [that] may not happen every single game, but we need our bottom-of-the-order guys to chip in when the top-of-the-order guys aren’t doing it … I’m really happy with the fact that a lot of guys are contributing, and it’s not just one or two players.”

BU will return to action against Penn State on Tuesday, March 21. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pennsylvania.

The Pipe Dream Bearcast returns after a one-year hiatus as Binghamton University’s new athletic director, Eugene Marshall Jr. sits down with the Pipe Dream Sports desk.

This episode was hosted by Sports Editor Jack Oh and Assistant Sports Editor Aidan Jennings. All post-production work was done by Managing Editor Harry Karpen. A special thank you to Eugene Marshall Jr. and Associate Athletic Director of Communications David O’Brian for their support of the show.

“I just think it’s a really big win for the players and for the program,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “[I] felt like they came out today with the confidence they needed to secure that type of result.”

After winning the opening draw control, BU (5-4) attacked Cornell’s (5-2, 2-0 Ivy League) cage right away as sophomore midfielder Abigail Carroll scored twice in the first minute and a half of play. The Big Red eventually got on the board with an answer to bring their deficit back to one goal. The Bearcats, however, responded a few minutes later when junior midfielder Hayley Weltner made a quick move to get around her defender and score. A few minutes later, the hosts scored two straight goals to knot the game at three goals apiece. The visitors remained persistent as sophomore attack Marisa Tancredi took the lead again in the closing moments of the period to go up 4-3.

“We were able to [score early] against Marist as well,” Allen said. “We’re looking to kind of get in the same rhythm early on against Cornell, and certainly winning those first couple of draw [controls], and getting the ball on our offensive end helped.”

Binghamton struck first in the second frame as senior midfielder Isabella Meli scored her 14th goal of the season to give the visitors a two score cushion. Cornell fired back with two consecutive goals to even the score once again. The Big Red took their first lead of the game off of a free position goal. Despite falling behind, the Bearcats found an opening as Tancredi netted her second of the game. However, the hosts scored once more as BU entered halftime down 7-6.

“I think we had the composure throughout the game that we needed to not let [Cornell] go on runs,” Allen said. “Even though they kind of bested us in that same quarter, we were still in the game, and we still had the same mentality and confidence that we started with. So, just really proud of the grit and battle that our girls on both sides of the ball displayed today.”

In a similar fashion to the first half, Carroll got the scoring started in the second, completing her hat trick and tying the game at seven. Both sides traded goals until Binghamton rattled off three in a row with under five minutes in the penultimate quarter. In the closing seconds, the Big Red cut the lead to two as they entered the final frame down 12-10.

“I think it was just our communication with each other on the field and connecting and gelling,” Allen said. “We made a couple adjustments in the draw control area, and I thought our girls had a good start to the third quarter with that. And then, just across the board, making sure that when we were getting stops defensively, we were capitalizing on the offensive end and making sure that Cornell didn’t feed off of their second quarter momentum.”

The fourth period started with the Bearcats finding the back of the net first. Despite this, Cornell tallied two goals in a row to bring its deficit to one. For the remainder of the game, the hosts went on the offensive to attempt to tie the game. Binghamton remained solid on defense and held on to secure a 13-12 victory.

“It just came down to heart,” Allen said. “We didn’t make huge adjustments out there on the defensive end to prevent them from scoring. We were just making sure that we were doing all the little things well, and making sure that when we did get stops, we’re working hard to get the ball to the other end of the field and give our defensive players a break.”

BU will begin its America East conference season at home against UMBC on Saturday, March 18. First draw control is set for 12 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I think the fast start definitely gave us the momentum that carried throughout the rest of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “To get the first seven goals on the board in the game today was awesome to see by our offense, and just kind of showed that they were really playing cohesively and gelling early on.”

After winning the opening draw control and drawing a penalty, BU (4-4) wasted no time getting on the board. Sophomore attack Marisa Tancredi ripped a shot that found the back of Marist’s (2-4) net off of a feed from senior attack Kenna Newman. Newman then followed up with a goal of her own less than a minute later. The Bearcats’ offensive outburst would continue for the remainder of the first period, with the visitors grabbing six more by its end.

Both sophomore midfielder Abigail Carroll and junior midfielder Kristen Scheidel added two goals apiece, while junior midfielder Hayley Weltner and sophomore attack Olivia Muscolino had one each to their names. Binghamton outshot the hosts 12-4 in the first quarter and held them to just one goal, giving the Bearcats a commanding 8-1 lead heading into the second.

“We just talked about [scoring early] a lot throughout practice,” Allen said. “So the way that we’ve been training lately is stringing together good plays back-to-back, and both our offense and defense were able to do that well today.”

Muscolino and Scheidel opened the scoring in the second, adding consecutive goals less than two minutes into play. Despite the early goals, BU stalled on offense, remaining scoreless for the a majority of the frame. The Red Foxes, however, answered with two goals of their own to bring the score to 10-3. Just before the half ended, the Bearcats added two goals in the final minute from Newman and Muscolino to put them up 12-3 going into halftime.

“I think we’ve seen [the defense] improving every single game as a unit,” Allen said. “We know Marist has a couple big threats out there that we were able to at least limit touches of theirs today, and I thought we had really good focus on the defensive end.”

Coming out of the break, Binghamton struck first as Tancredi found the twine off of a man-up opportunity. Marist responded with two consecutive goals, but the visitors tallied back-to-back goals to hold a 15-5 advantage heading into the final frame.

In the final quarter, BU held onto its lead, scoring three more and allowing just two to close out a comfortable 18-7 win. Muscolino led the team with four goals, while Carroll, Newman and Scheidel all had hat tricks with three goals apiece. Tancredi and junior attack Madison Murphy each added two to the Bearcats’ final tally. As a team, Binghamton totaled 35 shots compared to the Red Foxes’ 20, and scooped up 24 ground balls to the hosts’ 13. Additionally, the visitors forced 18 Marist turnovers while they only turned the ball over 10 times.

“I think a really well-balanced attack is critical for your team’s overall success,” Allen said. “We had seven different goal scorers, and six of those having multiple points today. So I think it’s just a testament to how that group’s been working and trying to become more consistent each and every game. And you know, today, it was nice to see those players have some success against a good quality opponent.”

The Bearcats will travel to Cornell for their next game on Tuesday, March 14. First draw control is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.

“I think it just came down to execution [on] both sides of the ball,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “We talked about that being one of our focuses and goals today, especially on the offensive end and making sure we were converting on shots today similar to our output versus Niagara. Just much better attention to detail when placing on the offensive end.”

BU (3-4) applied pressure early, getting the first two shots on goal. However, the Raiders (1-4) found the back of the net first with just over 10 minutes to play in the opening frame. BU responded a few minutes later as senior midfielder Isabella Meli scored an unassisted goal. Less than a minute after Meli, junior midfielder Hayley Weltner gave the hosts a 2-1 lead for her sixth score of the season. Despite Colgate evening the score at two apiece, the hosts retook their lead as Meli scored her second goal of the game with 13 seconds remaining to make it 3-2 after the first period.

Meli wasted no time securing her hat trick, finding the twine yet again less than a minute into the second quarter. The visitors answered with two goals in a row to knot the score at 4-4. The Bearcats broke the tie when senior attack Kenna Newman found sophomore attack Marisa Tancredi slashing toward the cage and scored. Tancredi alone scored three more times before the end of the half with sophomore attack Olivia Muscolino securing a goal of her own to extend BU’s lead to 9-4 entering the break.

“We wish we had had [offense] a little bit earlier on, but you know, definitely proud of them,” Allen said. “Our goal is to make adjustments from game to game from quarter to quarter. I thought they did a better job of their offensive movement and cohesiveness in that second quarter, and then just kind of carried it through the remainder of the game.”

Colgate came out of halftime wasting no time, finding the back of the net a minute into play. The hosts, however, did not waver as Weltner scored two more goals, one assisted by Newman, to grow the Bearcats’ cushion to six goals. Newman finished the game with six assists, which was a new program record for assists in a single game. Sophomore midfielder Abigail Carroll scored twice and Meli tallied her fourth goal as Binghamton entered the final period up 14-5.

“Thought [Newman] did a really nice job of keeping her head up,” Allen said. “She started to get those early slides to her and double teams, and you know, first couple I think caught her off guard, and then she got her head up and was really looking for that one more opportunity. To be able to come up with six assists too, it’s just a huge, really selfless effort out there.”

In the final frame, BU was outscored 4-3 by the Raiders. Despite this, the advantage that the hosts accumulated was too much to overcome as they secured a comfortable 17-9 victory. Meli, Tancredi and Weltner all earned hat tricks with five, four and three goals, respectively. Additionally, the team broke the assist record with 11 total.

“I think we had 11 assisted goals out of the 17 today, which was a new record,” Allen said. “The more that we can do that, even against a man defense, I think is pretty impressive. Obviously, when you play zone defense out there, you’re going to count on the assistant goals, but to see our team play like that today against man and really be looking for each other is just a testament to the type of unit that we have, the type of players that we have, and [we are] hoping to carry that into Saturday.”

Binghamton returns to action on Saturday, March 11 when it travels to play Marist. First draw control is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field in Poughkeepsie, New York.

“Overall it was a decent weekend,” wrote Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “[Chigatayeva] was the standout performance for sure. She ran great. And we had a lot of solid performances, but we put everything into the conference meet and sometimes it is hard to follow that up.”

BU started its competition on day two of the meet. Sophomore Jaston Ormsby followed up his performance at the AE Championships with a toss of 52-07.50 feet in the weight throw, placing 15th. Graduate student Jake Restivo placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 23-00.00 feet.

On the women’s side, graduate student Juliana Tobin participated in the weight throw, tossing 51-00.00 feet, and sophomore Lucciana Robertson placed sixth in the high jump with a 5-05.00 foot leap. After winning the pole vault at the AEs, freshman Alyssa Armitage earned a tied second-place finish in the pole vault at 12-00.00 feet. Furthermore, junior Jenna Chan qualified for the 60-meter hurdles finals with back-to-back times of 8.59 and 8.57 seconds in the prelims and semis, respectively.

“[Chan] has had an excellent season,” Thompson wrote. “Her final today wasn’t her best race, but we couldn’t be happier with the way she has run all year.”

The Bearcats had continued success in both the men’s and women’s 5Ks. Junior Josh Stone earned a fifth-place finish, clocking in at 14:10.30, while freshman Sydney Leitner followed Stone’s performance in the women’s 5K, crossing the finish line in fifth place as well at 17:05.60.

“[Stone] and [Leitner] ran well, just as they have all indoor season and during cross country,” Thompson wrote. “I’m looking forward to seeing them continue to improve outdoors.”

On Sunday, the final day of competition, junior Brandon Love placed sixth in the pole vault with a final measure of 15-07.00 feet. Graduate student Casey Gribben also participated in this event with a leap of 15-01.00 feet. After winning the conference title two weeks ago, Chan competed in the 60-meter hurdles finals and placed seventh, clocking in at 8.68 seconds.

“The vaulters have had a great year as well,” Thompson wrote. “[Armitage] and [Love] were a little off today, and yet still found ways to place in the meet. If they can get their technical skills to match their competitive intensity, they could become exceptional jumpers in the future.”

Highlighting the weekend was Chigatayeva earning gold in the 3000 meter with a program record, breaking the previous time with a 9:18.08 performance. Senior Carolyn Burnell competed in the same event and placed 20th, crossing the finish line at 9:56.68.

“[Chigatayeva] ran a perfect race,” Thompson wrote. “I think she could’ve run a little faster had the race gone out a little faster, but she looked strong and won with ease. It’s great to see her running the way she is right now.”

Binghamton ends its indoor season with the highlight coming from third place finishes for both the men and women’s teams at the AE conference championships. BU will now shift its focus over to the outdoor season starting in three weeks.

“The team gets a little break from competition the next few weeks,” Thompson wrote. “We will focus on training during this time. Then we get back into competition in late March, and do it all over again!”

The Bearcats are scheduled to kick off their spring competition at the Raleigh Relays from Friday, March 24 to Saturday, March 25 at the Paul Derr Track Facility in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“I thought we kind of came out hot there,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “Then [Lafayette] settled in and did a better job competing on ground balls, winning face-offs and really did a good job of getting the ball off the ground on their defensive end. It just allowed them to keep attacking, and I thought, unfortunately, we lost a little bit of confidence there and didn’t regain it after halftime.”

BU (2-1) got started on offense early, attacking Lafayette’s (2-3) cage in the opening minutes. Despite the hosts’ pressure, the Leopards struck first, scoring off of a turnover. With just under eight minutes in the first period, redshirt junior midfielder Thomas Greenblatt received a pass from senior midfielder Quinn O’Hara at the top of the crease and ripped a goal to even the score at 1-1. That goal sparked a three-goal run for Binghamton as senior midfielder Nicholas Imburgia and junior midfielder Ethan Insinga added to the total. After one quarter, the Bearcats held a 3-1 advantage.

“We’ve seen us [score early] in previous games,” McKeown said. “We just gotta get back to the drawing board and compete hard in practice this week and make sure we get better.”

The second quarter began with two saves from sophomore goalie Connor Winters, however, consistent pressure from the visitors eventually found the back of the net to cut the deficit to just one goal. This led to three consecutive scores for the Leopards as they continued to pressure BU’s defense, taking a 4-3 lead with less than four minutes to play in the half. The hosts struggled to create opportunities on offense in the second frame as they failed to add to its tally. Lafayette put up four goals in this time span to enter halftime with a 5-3 lead.

“I think a little bit of it may be shot selection and just making sure we’re working for higher percentage opportunities,” McKeown said. “Getting a better angle on goal in some cases, and I thought we did get some good opportunities that we just didn’t can.”

Lafayette took less than a minute to get on the board in the second half, as it capitalized on a power play that carried over from the end of the first half. Binghamton finally responded to the 5-0 run with a goal by O’Hara, but the Leopards answered just 20 seconds later. After some quiet play for the rest of the period, BU conceded two more goals to fall behind 9-4 going into the final frame. The Bearcats struggled to maintain possession in the penultimate quarter as they had six turnovers and 19 overall in the game.

“I didn’t think we cleared the ball well in that third quarter,” McKeown said. “That really wore us down, and when you’re down three goals after the first man-up goal by [Lafayette], it’s hard to come back when you’re not getting those possessions.”

In the fourth quarter, Binghamton could not find the back of the net as Lafayette added one more goal to its total. The game ended 10-4 as the Bearcats picked up their first loss of the season.

“It was a tough start with the penalty to start the half there,” McKeown said. “They put one in man up. [Lafayette’s] a really good team, they continue to get better every year, so we’ll get back to practice this week and get ready for St. John’s.”

The Bearcats will remain at home for their next game against St. John’s on Saturday, March 4. First face-off is scheduled for noon at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I definitely thought we competed,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “Just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch to come away with the win.”

To open the game, Vermont (18-10, 12-2 AE) blitzed BU (12-15, 8-6 AE) with an 8-0 run in the first minute and a half. The Bearcats eventually got on the board when senior forward Taveion White connected on a layup. Another 7-0 run by the Catamounts made it 15-2 until graduate student forward Miles Gibson hit a mid-range jumper which sparked a 12-0 Binghamton run to tie the game up at 15. Senior guard Dan Petcash and junior guard Armon Harried hit consecutive 3-pointers during the run, catapulting the Bearcats back into the game.

“There’s still a lot of basketball left to play, so you can’t give up in that situation,” Sanders said. “Our guys don’t give up. They always keep fighting, but the problem is you let a team get up by that much and put yourself in a deficit, and now you have to fight and come back. If we played that way from the beginning, we would’ve been able to give ourselves a lead.

Both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half. Petcash connected on an and-one layup and graduate student guard Christian Hinckson hit a 3-pointer followed by another three by senior guard Jacob Falko. Vermont, however, would not back down despite BU shooting 53.6 percent from the field in the first half.

At the end of the first half, Gibson led the Bearcats with 10 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting. Petcash and Hinckson both added eight points apiece as Binghamton entered halftime down 41-37.

“I thought we were playing together,” Sanders said. “We were finding, looking for each other, moving the ball. [Gibson] made some really good individual plays in terms of little fadeaway jumpers. We shared the ball and when we do that, we get good shots.”

Gibson opened up the scoring in the second half with another turnaround mid-range jumper. After more back-and-forth play between the two sides, Falko hit a deep 3-pointer to give the Bearcats their first lead since the first half. Gibson followed it up with a three of his own to give BU a five-point cushion, its largest of the game. After giving up a 7-0 run and falling behind by two points, Falko hit another 3-pointer to go up one.

“[Vermont] has been a dominant program,” Sanders said. “We’re not playing against what they’ve done in the past, so we’re coming out to play the team that’s in front of us, and that’s what we have to focus on. Our guys should be confident.”

With under five minutes left in regulation, the hosts were able to gain a nine-point advantage. Despite going down, Petcash connected from beyond the arc to bring the Bearcats back within six points. Now down by nine with under a minute to play, Falko drove into the lane and hit an and-one layup to bring Binghamton back down six. Vermont, however, iced the game with five unanswered free throws to secure the 81-70 victory.

“[Vermont’s] a good offensive team, so they’re gonna score the ball,” Sanders said. “We just gotta make them do the things we want them to do. Stick to our game plan … Just gotta do what we do, make them play the game we want to play and we’ll be better for it next time.”

Despite the loss, BU shot 45.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc on 18 attempts. Gibson led the Bearcats in scoring, finishing with 23 points and was followed by Falko who added 17 of his own.

“I thought early on [Gibson and Falko] did a really good job of sharing the ball, getting their teammates involved,” Sanders said. “[Gibson] made some really good individual plays … he shot the ball well, took good shots. Him and [Falko] had good days.”

BU will return home for its next game against Maine on Saturday, Feb. 25. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“We definitely came out with a lot of energy,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “Seven goals in the first quarter. I thought our sideline was bringing great energy [and] I thought our face off guys were doing a great job getting us the ball.”

BU (2-0) peppered St. Bonaventure’s (0-2) goal early, attempting two shots before Keegan found the twine just over one minute into play. This sparked a flurry of goals as the Bonnies responded less than a minute later with a goal of their own. However, consecutive goals from the Bearcats gave them a 3-1 lead with just under 12 minutes in the first period.

Binghamton would go on to continue to pressure the host’s defense as it scored four more times before the frame ended. Keegan added two more to his tally, earning his hat trick in the first as BU held the Bonnies to just two goals and went into the second period with a 7-2 cushion.

“We kind of had a similar start last week where we got the first four [goals],” McKeown said. “Sometimes it can be hard to maintain, but I think the idea is that you want to try and limit the other team to one or two goal runs and be able to put three or four goal marks together. I think we just have to continue to work on getting better each week.”

The Bearcats’ offensive prowess slowed in the second, as they were unable to score in the period and gave up two goals in the process. Despite this, sophomore goalie Connor Winters accumulated eight saves in the first half to send the visitors in the break up 7-4. Winters finished the game with 17 saves in total.

“I think [Winters] was a huge difference for us,” McKeown said. “I was just proud of the way [Winters] held in there. He stood tall, he’s a big goalie and came up with some big saves.”

The second half started with both teams getting shots on their respective goals. Junior midfielder Ethan Insinga opened up the scoring with a goal, but the Bonnies responded less than a minute later to keep them down by just three goals. Three and a half minutes later, redshirt junior midfielder Thomas Greenblatt found the back of the net for BU. However, this goal sparked a 3-0 scoring run from St. Bonaventure, bringing its deficit down to just one goal going into the final frame.

“[St. Bonaventure] started getting some momentum,” McKeown said. “We felt like we didn’t get some calls at the face-offs, and they started winning some there and they kind of clawed their way back into it, but [I’m] just proud of the way the guys kept fighting.”

One minute into the fourth, the hosts tied the game at nine goals apiece, capping off a 4-0 scoring run. Binghamton responded with a goal from senior midfielder Quinn O’Hara and less than a minute later, Greenblatt found the goal again for his third score of the game, completing his hat trick.

For the remainder of regulation, the Bearcats attempted to hold off the Bonnies, but the hosts continued peppering BU’s goal and eventually broke through, scoring twice within one minute. With the game tied with two minutes to play, neither team was able to break the draw as regulation ended tied at 11.

“It all starts with getting the ball, whether it’s off the face off or getting the stop defensively,” McKeown said. “I thought we let them get a couple of goals off of rebounds when [Winters] had made the save … Our message to the guys is try to win the middle of the field to win possession through face offs and then rise and clear.”

In the overtime period, the Bonnies committed a penalty with three minutes remaining, giving the visitors a man-up opportunity. The Bearcats took advantage of this advantage as Keegan scored his fourth goal of the game off of a Greenblatt assist.

“[Keegan’s] been great,” McKeown said. “He’s got nine goals on the year now … He’s put a lot of work in. He’s always one of the last guys to leave the field every day, and it’s definitely showing in his performance.”

Binghamton begins a two-game home stand against Lafayette on Saturday, Feb. 25. First face-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“This might be the best overall performance we’ve had at this meet,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “We’ve had more talented teams, but I don’t think we’ve ever had two teams overachieve like this group did this weekend.”

Among the winners on day one was sophomore Jaston Ormsby, who took the gold in the weight throw. Ormsby registered a throw of 58-10.00 feet, a personal best, and is the first Bearcat to win the event since 2008. Junior Brandon Love and graduate student Casey Gribben swept first and second place in the pole vault, respectively. Love earned first with a 15-07.00 foot leap, while Gribben followed him up with a 15-01.00 foot jump. At the end of the meet, Love was named Most Outstanding Men’s Field Athlete.

Graduate student Jake Restivo had a silver finish in the long jump, with a leap of 23-10.75 feet. Furthermore, junior Josh Stone placed second in the 5000 meter, clocking in at 14:28.97.

On the women’s side, freshman Alyssa Armitage won the pole vault, her first career title — with a leap of 12-04.00 feet — besting last year’s championship score. The quartet of sophomores, Jennifer Mui, Jessica Prentice, Zoe Rose and redshirt senior Aziza Chigatayeva, earned a second-place finish in the 4000-distance medley relay. They crossed the line at 11:57.44. In addition, junior Jenna Chan won the 60 hurdles prelim with a time of 8.49, breaking her own personal record.

At the end of day one of competition, the men’s team found itself in first place while the women held third.

“I think on the men’s side we outperformed our projected score by 10 or 15 points, which was super awesome,” said senior Matthew Cavaliere. “I think the main thing that helped us was the energy our team brought to the meet. We have a super small roster compared to other teams, but you could hear BU chants from across the track while competing. It was awesome because I think we had like 10 podium finishes in the throws, jumps [and] sprints and distance as a team of [about] 30.”

On Sunday, Cavaliere took gold in the one mile, clocking in at 4:08.46, and senior Marcrene Jeannot came out on top in the triple jump, with a 49-00.75 foot leap. Jeannot is the first Bearcat in program history to win the event. Highlighting day two, senior Nick Malfitano came out with first place in the heptathlon, winning the long jump, 60 hurdles, pole vault and 1000-meter in the process.

“Individually, it was a great race,” Cavaliere said. “I was confident that if I put myself in the right position, I had a good shot at the win! I haven’t had the best season leading up to today, so grabbing the win was very rewarding!”

Following up on her personal record-breaking performance the day before, Chan secured the title in the 60 hurdles for the second straight year with a time of 8.56. Senior Sophia Morone followed her performance up with a first-place victory of her own in the 400 meter, crossing the finish line in 55.31. Additionally, graduate student Stephanie Cassens registered a runner-up finish in the 500 meter at 1:13.43.

Sophomore Lucciana Robertson won the high jump event with a winning height of 5-08.00 feet. Chigatayeva competed again on day two, this time defending her title in the 3000 meter. Despite winning the event a season ago, Chigatayeva came in second place this time around, with a time of 9:40.58.

“Overall, I think that both the men and women’s team left everything we had on the track and deserved the success many had this weekend,” Robertson said. “Our team puts a tremendous amount of hard work on and off the track, and it clearly shows when conferences comes around.”

Binghamton will compete again at the ECAC/IC4A Championships starting on Friday, March 3. First event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Boston, Massachusetts.

“It was back-and-forth and both teams had runs,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop [NJIT]. They were able to out-rebound us and that was a big key to get second chance opportunities.”

BU (13-13, 6-7 AE) and NJIT (13-12, 8-5 AE) came out trading baskets and after the first six minutes of play, it was tied at 14. At the end of the period, Binghamton held a one-point lead over the Highlanders 22-21. Seven different Bearcats got on the scoreboard in the first, with senior guard Denai Bowman leading the way with six points.

“It was great [to have Bowman back], but I was worried about her,” Shapiro Ord said. “[NJIT was] very physical with her … but it’s part of the game.”

The second frame saw a slower pace to the action than the first. The hosts were able to take a two-point advantage four minutes into the period. The visitors retook the lead late in the second with a quick 8-0 run to close out the half, spearheaded by freshman forward Camryn Fauria. The freshman scored six points in the period to help give the Bearcats a 37-31 lead going into halftime. BU shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and only had four turnovers compared to NJIT’s 11.

Bowman led the visitors with eight points but was supported by redshirt freshman guard Ella Wanzer, sophomore forward Genevieve Coleman and Fauria who all had seven.

“[Fauria] did terrific,” Shapiro Ord said. “For us to be successful, we gotta get into the paint and she was able to get them to come out on her.”

The second half opened with the hosts going on an 11-3 run to retake the lead and go up 42-40. A quick 4-0 run from the Bearcats gave the visitors the lead once again. The last five minutes of the penultimate quarter saw three lead changes as Binghamton was able to enter the final frame up 51-50.

Despite BU coming into the final frame with a one-point lead, the hosts began to pull away by opening with a 7-0 run. However, the Bearcats did not allow the Highlanders to expand this lead and cut the deficit to three points with two minutes left in regulation. The visitors were able to cut it to a one-point game, but an NJIT bucket on the other end kept it at a three-point difference.

With the Bearcats down three and 48 seconds left on the clock, they had an opportunity to tie the game. Wanzer drove into the lane but was unable to connect on her layup attempt. The Highlanders secured the rebound and sank free throws on their next possession to put the game out of reach, defeating Binghamton 75-70.

“We had to get some stops together,” Shapiro Ord said. “We just weren’t able to. NJIT did a really good job of getting it inside.”

Bowman finished the game with 18 points, followed by Coleman with 11. Wanzer and Fauria both added nine.

“I’m looking forward to getting our kids playing in front of our home court,” Shapiro Ord said. “I just think that we play a little looser there, and I think we’re gonna do really well [at home].”

BU will return home to face UMass Lowell on Saturday, Feb. 18. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“We had [Albany],” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “The young ones came in and did a great job. They played a great game without [senior guard Denai Bowman]. They battled for each other. For us to have them by one point at the very end like we did — you can’t control what happens at the end with the officials.”

BU (13-12, 6-6 America East [AE]) fell behind early after missing its first three shots, allowing Albany (17-10, 11-2 AE) to rally off a quick 7-0 run. Redshirt freshman guard Ella Wanzer ended the scoring drought with a jumper, followed by senior guard Clare Traeger — who connected on an and-one layup. She then followed up with another open layup assisted by redshirt freshman guard Jadyn Weltz.

The game remained stagnant for most of the quarter as Binghamton fell behind by five points. However, with just over a minute to play, freshman guard Meghan Casey drove and connected on a layup, drawing a foul in the process. The visitors would hold off the Great Danes for the remainder of the quarter as they entered the second frame down 14-12.

“[Casey] has been working really hard in practice, and she did a great job defensively as well and it helps her offense,” Shapiro Ord said. “Her being so long and being able to shoot the way she can, I just thought she did a great job.”

Both sides hit a lull in the second period, as there was not a field goal made until three-and-a-half minutes in. Eventually, Casey hit a floater to give the visitors their first lead of the game. BU’s defense was solid as the Great Danes scored just one point for the first six minutes of the frame, but the hosts finally struck with a quick 5-0 run. Albany extended its lead going up 26-20, but Casey connected on a buzzer-beater jumper to send the Bearcats into halftime down 26-22.

“We just really pushed on defense,” Shapiro Ord said. “It was all defensive end, keeping it close.”

Despite being down by four, BU chipped away at its deficit and took a 32-30 lead five minutes into the penultimate quarter. The hosts, however, responded and ended the period on a 9-2 run as the game entered the final frame with the Great Danes up 39-34.

Midway through the final quarter, Albany took a seven-point cushion with another 3-pointer, but a quick 4-0 run by BU kept it close. With just under two minutes left in the game, Traeger drove and hit a layup to bring the visitors down one. After getting a stop on defense, the Bearcats, still down by one, had an opportunity to win the game with 11.3 seconds remaining. Weltz caught the ball off the inbound near the top of the key, drove into the paint from the right side and connected on a strong layup with just 5.2 seconds left.

The Great Danes had one last opportunity to win the game. Off the inbound, the hosts got the ball down low and the Great Dane was fouled on her shot attempt. The Great Dane made one-of-two free throws, sending the game into overtime with the score knotted at 52 apiece.

“That fourth quarter [we scored] 18 points and battled back,” Shapiro Ord said. “It was a heartbreaker because these girls, they just battle. Especially because [Bowman] was out tonight too.”

In overtime, Binghamton struggled offensively. The Bearcats were outscored 11-1 and did not connect on a single field goal in extra time, ultimately losing 63-53. Despite the result, Traeger scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Weltz tallied 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Additionally, Casey added 11 points on 50 percent shooting.

“[Weltz] has such a high basketball IQ, and she just wants it so bad,” Shapiro Ord said. “She’s my floor general. She’s done an incredible job being such a young player. She understands the game so well.”

BU remains on the road for its next game this Wednesday, Feb. 15 against NJIT. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the NJIT Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.

“We’re really excited to get started this week,” said Binghamton head coach Jessica Bump. “It’s been a long time coming for this group. They’ve put in a lot of effort since we got back to school in August, and our staff is really excited to kind of see what they’re putting together. At this point, all we really need to do is to start playing against someone other than ourselves.”

In her first season as head coach, Bump led BU to a 22-23 overall record while going 7-8 in conference play. The Bearcats hosted the America East tournament where they finished in fourth place after two victories against Hartford. Now entering her second season as head coach, Bump will look to lead this team to the next level in 2023.

“I think regardless of what happens on the field, just continuing to move forward,” Bump said. “Obviously I learned a lot last year. I think I learned a lot about myself, but also how to lead a group of 18-to-23 year olds. For us it’s really just coming together as a group, and just knowing that regardless of what happens the day before, this group has what it takes to change the motion of everything.”

The AE preseason poll has pitted Binghamton to finish fourth in the conference this season. The Bearcats earned 16 points with one first place vote, placing them right before Albany with 17 points, UMass Lowell with 20 points and first ranked UMBC who amassed 23 points and four first place votes. Maine and Bryant rounded out the preseason poll rankings with seven points earned apiece.

“We haven’t talked about the poll at all,” Bump said. “The only thing we really talk about is it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. So obviously we feel good that someone voted us first, knowing that we have a good group coming at [the AE] this season, but I don’t think that’s something we focus on. We just got to continue to get better every day. It’s a long season, 51 games scheduled, so we just got to make sure we’re playing our best ball that second week in May when we head down to UMBC for the America East tournament.”

A key piece returning to the team this year is graduate student infielder Alli Richmond. Last season, the Bearcat started in all 45 games and was a first team Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) all-star. In addition, she was selected first team all-conference, finishing the season with a .303 batting average, six home runs and 27 RBIs.

“It’s definitely helped my confidence,” Richmond said. “I kind of want to roll that momentum into this year, but at the end of the day I’m gonna keep trusting my process, keep trusting my training. I’m lucky enough to be on a team with a lot of talented athletes where it’s probably going to be someone different that steps up every game and every weekend.”

In addition to Richmond, two of last year’s AE all-rookie team selections, sophomore outfielders Sarah Rende and Alayna Harbaugh, return to the team. Rende appeared in 43 games last year and was named second team all-conference. Harbaugh appeared in all 45 games and led the AE with 19 stolen bases. Furthermore, she batted .308, leading BU in that statistic and posted 11 multiple hit games.

Senior catcher Quinn DeCicco also returns to BU after playing 33 games last season, ranking third on the team in batting average with .299 and hit three home runs and 14 RBIs.

“One goal we have as a team this year is to have each other’s backs,” DeCicco said. “If one person makes a mistake, our goal is to have the next person behind them pick each other up. So say you strike out — the next person in line is gonna have your back and make sure that we don’t let the ball keep rolling and have two mistakes in a row.”

Binghamton will begin its season this Friday, Feb. 10 at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. at the FGCU Softball Complex in Fort Myers, Florida.

“I thought we competed for the whole game,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “We’ve been talking about trying to put a whole, complete game together. Even though we got down — basketball is a game of runs, so we were able to come back and close out.”

Graduate student forward Miles Gibson opened the scoring for BU (10-13, 6-4 America East [AE]) with a jumper. A few possessions later, graduate student guard Christian Hinckson caught the ball in the post and squared up to the rim. He made a quick move, got to the rim and finished the layup plus a foul. Despite gaining a 5-2 lead, the Wildcats (11-12, 6-5 AE) began to come back, rattling off an 8-0 run to go up 10-5.

Both teams traded baskets for most of the first half but after 12 minutes, the Bearcats were still down five points 21-16. With under a minute to play, the score was tied at 30 apiece when senior guard Dan Petcash hit a 3-pointer to give BU a slight 33-30 lead going into the break.

“I think that we can come out and play together more,” Sanders said. “On both sides, I thought we did a really good job of playing together. We had four guys in double figures.”

Junior guard Armon Harried and Hinckson led Binghamton in scoring with 10 points each in the first as the Bearcats outshot the Wildcats 45.2 percent to 40 percent. The visitors limited their turnovers to three compared to the host’s seven. BU finished the game with only eight turnovers to the Wildcats’ 12.

“We did a really good job of not turning the ball over,” Sanders said. “We had eight turnovers, which for us is usually a lot higher. So us not turning the ball over is a good thing for us.”

Binghamton came out in the second half matching baskets with the Wildcats. However, six minutes into the half UNH rattled off a 9-2 run, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers.

With less than 10 minutes left in the game and the Bearcats down 10, Petcash narrowed the deficit to seven points after hitting a three in transition. The senior hit another jumper followed quickly by a senior guard Jacob Falko layup to bring the visitors within three points. Harried dropped in a layup on the next possession and connected on two unanswered 3-pointers to complete a solo 8-0 run. During this span, the Bearcats amassed a 15-0 run which gave them a five-point cushion.

“I think it was more important for us as a team,” Sanders said. “It was good for them to see. We’ve been like that all year. We’ve been down, but we always have the ability to come back. Sometimes we put ourselves in too big of a hole and we’re not able to come back, but 10 points with seven minutes left — that’s not a lot of points … We stuck together, it was a total team effort.”

In the final minute of play, BU was up four points until a Wildcat 3-pointer cut the difference to just one point with 29.2 seconds left on the clock. However, on the following possession, the Bearcats broke UNH’s press and Harried finished an and-one layup to bring their lead back up to four points. Harried ended the night with a game-high 23 points.

“[Harried] does everything for us, such a competitor,” Sanders said. “He hit two really big threes for us, but he rebounded the ball well and played good defense. He’s just a guy that goes out and competes … He had another really good game.”

After missing two free throws, Binghamton was up two points with 12 seconds left. The Wildcats attempted to extend the game but the Bearcats managed to get one final stop, securing a 66-64 victory.

“We can’t be satisfied,” Sanders said. “That’s kind of how our season has been so far. We win a game, and I think we get too high … We gotta be ready to practice because that’s what’s going to prepare us for Saturday. The message is not being satisfied. Continue to be greedy, continue to want to go out and get better every day because we still got a lot of games left, and we just gotta make sure we stay focused.”

BU will return home for its next matchup against UAlbany on Saturday, Feb. 11. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “Offensively we were stagnant, getting back to guys holding the ball [and] not really creating anything … In the second half, defensively we were better. We didn’t give up as many easy threes, we made it a lot tougher for [UMBC] and we were able to get ourselves back in the game.”

Senior guard Dan Petcash got the scoring started for BU (9-13, 5-4 AE) in the first half with a jumper and then a layup a few possessions later, giving the visitors a 6-2 advantage. UMBC (15-9, 5-4 AE), however, responded quickly with a 7-2 run to take its first lead of the game. The Bearcats stalled on offense for a few possessions before graduate student forward Miles Gibson connected on a 3-point shot to even the score at 13. Both teams began trading baskets as they approached the halfway point of the first half.

Once the game was past the 10-minute mark, the hosts began to pull away as they went up 30-18 with just over seven minutes left in the half. Junior guard John McGriff ended the scoring drought after making a step-back mid-range jumper. However, for the remainder of the half, the Retrievers continued to pull away, leading by as much as 19 points. Despite the deficit, Binghamton attempted to close the gap with a quick 8-4 run in the final two and a half minutes to enter halftime down 43-28.

“In the first half, I thought we settled for too many jump shots,” Sanders said. “We need to be able to score inside and score in the paint, but then again we were settling, and I didn’t think we did a good job of breaking down the defense.”

BU opened up the second half with a dunk by Gibson. However, the hosts prevented any momentum from being built by the Bearcats and went up 20 less than three minutes in. After going down yet again, the visitors cashed in a quick 11-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. Binghamton eventually cut it to eight but had their run halted by a Retriever 3-pointer.

“When you put yourself down by so much, you almost have to play perfect,” Sanders said. “We would get stops, but then we got to be perfect and any little thing that you do or don’t do, it really hurts you. So we can’t dig ourselves into a hole where we put ourselves in that position where we have to play perfect … When you go down, you can’t afford to have those mistakes and unfortunately we did.”

Despite the Bearcats’ efforts to come back, UMBC was resilient in not allowing them to get too close. In the second half, Binghamton outscored the Retrievers 27-26 and shot 40 percent from the field compared to the host’s 34.5 percent. The deficit, however, was too immense as the visitors dropped the matchup 69-55.

“We need to play together on both sides, offensively and defensively,” Sanders said. “We can’t be satisfied. I think a lot of times when we win a game, we become satisfied that we won and are happy that we won. I think we lose a little bit of that hunger … When we win, we gotta be ready to come in and work as if we lost, and I think that’s the mindset we need to have for the rest of the year.”

Junior guard Armon Harried led all Bearcats with 17 points. He also added 10 rebounds and six assists, along with three blocks. Gibson was the next-highest scorer with 15 points and also made the team’s only three-pointer of the game.

“I thought [Harried] played a well-rounded game,” Sanders said. “He’s not gonna score 17 points every night, but he can rebound and he can get assists, and if he can defend the way he defended every night. So he definitely had a nice game.”

BU will wrap up its two-game road trip against UNH on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, New Hampshire.

“It was kind of up and down,” said Binghamton head coach Mike Thompson. “There were a few really good performances and a good number of solid performances, but I think that it was okay.”

After earning two first-place finishes in the past two meets, junior Jenna Chan continued her successful start to the season with yet another victory. The Bearcat took gold in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking in at 8.75 seconds. Additionally, Chan competed in the 200-meter dash and placed fifth with a time of 25.25.

“[Chan’s] time in the [60] hurdles was average for her, but she ran a really good 200,” Thompson said. “So she had a good day. Winning the hurdles was great, but I’m sure she would’ve liked to run faster than that.”

Additionally, on the women’s side, senior Carolyn Burnell and graduate student Stephanie Cassens were runners-up. Burnell raced the 3000-meter in 10:04.68 and Cassens competed in the 1000-meter with a time of 2:54.38. Cassens’ time in the 1000 puts her third in all-time in BU program history, right behind recent graduate Emily Mackay.

“That was the first time [Cassens] ever ran the 1000,” Thompson said. “That’s the furthest she’s ever raced, so that was a great performance for her. Since she had never run that far in competition, she was a little uncertain about how it would go, but she ran really well. I think that was the number three time of all time for us, so it was a great race.”

Highlighting the men’s side was junior Brandon Love who had a first-place finish in the pole vault. His 15-07.00 foot clearance earned him the sole individual victory for the men’s team. Junior Marcus Johnson claimed second place in the triple jump with a leap of 46-09.00 feet and graduate student Jake Restivo was third in the long jump with a 22-05.25 foot jump.

“[Love] has become consistent in the pole vault which is important because that’s when the big performances come,” Thompson said. “You perform consistently and then that’s usually when people pop a big one, and I think he’s ready to do that.”

Furthermore, sophomore Jaston Ormsby and junior Josh Stone both registered personal bests in their events. Ormsby took second place in the weight throw with a 56-05.00 foot toss, and Stone earned the bronze in the 3000, clocking in a time of 8:22.75.

“They’re gonna need a couple more weeks to be ready to compete at conference,” Thompson said. “I’m happy with where some people are, and others are not doing quite as well as we would like them to or as they would like themselves to. It’ll be interesting to see how the next two weeks go. Conference is in three weeks, so it’s actually coming up pretty quick so we’ll see.”

The America East (AE) Championships are scheduled to take place from Saturday, Feb. 18 to Sunday, Feb.19. Until then, the Bearcats have two weeks of competition, starting this weekend.

“Just the usual stuff this time of year,” Thompson said. “This time of year we push them a little harder in practice this week coming up and then start backing off so that they are well rested going into the conference meet.”

Binghamton competes again this Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Penn State National Open and Kane Invitational. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

“I thought [Maine] was way more physical than us,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “They forced us into a bunch of turnovers, which we’ve been doing a pretty good job of — not turning the ball over other than our last two games. That’s what stood out the most.”

BU (8-11, 4-2 AE) went down 5-0 early before senior guard Jacob Falko found a cutting junior guard Armon Harried for an easy rim rattler to put the visitors on the board. After stopping Maine (7-12, 1-5 AE) on the next possession, the Bearcats found graduate student guard Christian Hinckson in transition for a three to quickly tie the score up at five. Despite starting to get going on offense, the Bearcats struggled to control possession in the first 10 minutes, accumulating seven turnovers in that time. The Black Bears took advantage and climbed to a 23-8 lead.

“If you’re not getting shots at the basket because you’re turning it over, then it’s hard to get any kind of flow or momentum,” Sanders said. “I did think we were trying to play a little too much one-on-one early in the game, and not running stuff the way we need to run it.”

Harried finally put a stop to the Maine run with an and-one layup with just under nine minutes left in the half. Binghamton continued to chip away at its deficit for the remainder of the first, as graduate student forward Miles Gibson hit a mid-range jumper to bring the deficit down to eight. Despite cutting the lead to single digits, both sides went back-and-forth for the remainder of the frame. In the last minute, Hinckson dropped in two layups to bring BU into the half down 36-25.

“And then we compound [giving up transition baskets] with turnovers and giving [Maine] the opportunity to get out in transition to score easy baskets, it makes it worse for you,” Sanders said. “Especially when you’re not getting easy baskets. I kind of felt like we were lucky to be down only 11 at halftime.”

Binghamton opened the second half scoring with senior guard Dan Petcash hitting a corner 3-point shot. Petcash, who led the team in scoring on the day, followed that up with a drive into the lane for a layup to score the visitor’s first five points of the period.

“I thought [Petcash] was solid,” Sanders said. “I liked the way he drove the ball to the basket, and then I thought [senior forward Taveion White] played really hard. Got us some offensive rebounds and stuff like that, but other than that, we didn’t really have anybody else that could really get going.”

Turnovers were a theme again for the Bearcats in the second half as they gave up possession five times in the first 10 minutes. Additionally, finding consistent scoring was an issue as no player except for Petcash, who finished with 13, found themselves in the double-digits.

“I’m going to attribute a lot today to Maine,” Sanders said. “They played really well. They were more aggressive than we were. They were guarding us. This had more to do with the way Maine played and how aggressive they were … I just kind of felt like we thought we were going to show up and just win.”

Defensively, BU struggled to contain the Black Bear shooters from beyond the arc. The hosts had an efficient day, shooting 8-17 from three while Binghamton shot 2-13. Coming into this game, the Bearcats had an 8-0 record when outshooting their opponent from three and were 0-10 when their opponent outshoots them.

“We won four games in a row, and I think we were feeling good about ourselves,” Sanders said. “Sometimes you need to kind of come back down to Earth a little bit, and that’s what this game does. Now we gotta do everything to come out and play against a really good Vermont team.”

Binghamton returns home for the next matchup against Vermont on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

“We competed well,” said Binghamton head coach Kyle Borshoff. “Got a couple of good quality wins in. The team competed hard, and at the end of the day you can point to two egregious errors or mistakes we made that cost us the match. It was certainly a tighter dual than the score indicated.”

In the first bout of the dual, redshirt junior Cory Day battled in the 285-pound weight class. The No. 21 ranked Bearcat secured a 3-1 decision over his opponent to give BU (2-9, 1-2 EIWA) an early 3-0 lead over Lehigh (5-6, 2-1 EIWA).

“[Day] won the mat wrestling, which is what he’s been doing all year long,” Borshoff said. “If he continues to do that, he’ll be a dangerous person to wrestle for anyone in the country. So he’s doing a great job on top, he’s doing a great job on bottom and he’s competing well on his feet. He’s not getting scored on, and he did a really great job of controlling his opponent.”

Sophomore Ivan Garcia picked up Binghamton’s second win of the day at 133 pounds. His bout was knotted at one late in the third period, but with a reversal, Garcia took a 3-1 advantage. This secured his victory via decision and gave the Bearcats a 6-3 lead.

Despite going ahead at the start of the dual, BU went on to drop the next two bouts by way of fall, falling behind 14-6. However, sophomores Conner Decker and Brevin Cassella picked up back-to-back wins by decision to narrow the deficit to just two points.

“For [Decker] to come out and compete and win takes a lot of guts,” Borshoff said. “You have to have a real short memory of watching your teammate the match before and just focusing on your individual matchup. [Decker] was able to do that and come away with the win.”

Decker earned his first career dual win in sudden victory during the 157-pound bout. The Bearcat scored a double-leg takedown to secure a 3-1 decision. Next, in the 165-pound bout, Cassella earned a 7-2 decision with a first-period takedown, four near-fall points and 2:24 of riding time.

“[Cassella] had limited matchups this season, but he’s starting to get back into a nice rhythm with his offense,” Borshoff said. “Looking forward to his progress over the next few weeks before the conference championships.”

Binghamton went on to lose the last three bouts of the dual to lose 26-12. Although the Bearcats have a 2-9 record overall, Borshoff is still confident in his team’s ability to compete. Five of their opponents this season are nationally ranked programs.

“We’re competitive against the best teams in the country,” Borshoff said. “We’ve wrestled a lot of good teams. Our record is not great, but as you go through and look at the teams we’ve wrestled, pretty much everyone is a nationally ranked team or ranked highly in the mid-major poll. So we just have to continue to get better and make sure that we put ourselves in the best position for EIWA’s to qualify guys to the NCAA Championships.”

BU will return to action against Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 21. First bout is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“It’s a great accomplishment to achieve,” Bowman wrote. “[I] would like to thank God, my family, my coaches and my teammates for continuing to push me in all sorts of ways to become the player I am today. With that being said, the job isn’t finished. We have a lot more work to do and a lot more games to play!”

After a 5-0 start run to start the game for UMBC (4-8, 1-0 AE), redshirt freshman guard Ella Wanzer hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding. BU (7-7, 0-1 AE) eventually evened the score at five, but both teams continued to hit shots and were unable to build any significant advantages. Halfway through the first quarter Bowman hit her first shot of the game when she drove into the paint, stopped on a dime and hit a short-range jumper.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, Bowman drove down the right lane and was fouled, sending her to the free-throw line. Bowman secured both free throws, pushing her collegiate career point total past the 1,000-point mark. The senior finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. At the end of the quarter, the score was tied at 18.

“I thought it was awesome because she had like 90 fans and her family was there,” Shapiro Ord said. “The bench was really into it. That part was great, and it was on a free throw, so that was great for her.”

Sophomore forward Genevieve Coleman opened the second period by connecting on a shot from beyond the arc, giving Binghamton its first lead of the game. BU’s offense was hot, hitting its first five shots in the frame. However, UMBC did not let up, answering the visitor’s scoring with an efficient offense output of its own. Halfway through the quarter, the Bearcats found themselves up 30-29. Despite the narrow lead, Binghamton could not hold on as the hosts went on a 9-2 run to close out the first half with a 38-32 advantage.

“In the second quarter we kind of hit a lull,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “We were just not attacking. We need to get into the paint. When we got in the paint, good things happen. And we gave up too many second chance opportunities.”

The Bearcats came out of halftime looking to overcome their six-point deficit. Redshirt freshman guard Jadyn Weltz and Wanzer hit back-to-back three-pointers early to even the score at 38 apiece. Wanzer found her shot in the penultimate frame, hitting a mid-range jumper followed by a 3-pointer on the next BU possession. Both Weltz and Wanzer finished the game scoring in double digits with 11 and 14 points, respectively. At the end of the period, BU took the lead as it headed into the final quarter up 52-50.

“When we were running the floor, making the extra passes [and] sharing the basketball, I thought we did a good job,” Shapiro Ord said. “We can’t go back and forth. We have to string together some more stops, especially in the fourth quarter. But I thought we did a nice job with executing and really getting up and down the floor. We really pushed transition very well.”

After a back-and-forth start to the fourth quarter, the Retrievers tallied an 11-0 run to go up 65-56 less than four minutes into the frame. Binghamton found itself down 10 points with less than three minutes remaining, but strung together a quick 4-0 run. A Bowman jump shot cut the deficit to four points with 40 seconds left. On the next possession, the Bearcats stole the ball and Bowman hit another tough jumper to bring BU within two points with 19 seconds on the clock. Thanks to a missed free throw by UMBC, it was a one-possession game as the visitors were down by only three points with 16 seconds and the ball. Off the inbound pass, Weltz found herself with a good look at a 3-pointer but was unable to connect as Binghamton fell 73-69.

“The reason [UMBC] got that run was because we were trading baskets,” Shapiro Ord said. “We played some really good defense and then we weren’t cleaning up the paint … [UMBC] had 16 second chance [points] and that’s tough.”

BU will continue AE conference play at home against Bryant on Sunday, Jan. 1. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.