VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton women's lacrosse nearly completed a comeback, but fell to visiting New Hampshire 15-14 Saturday afternoon at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The Bearcats fell behind 5-1, 11-6 and 14-10 and used a late run to tie the game, but a goal by the Wildcats at the 7:57 mark proved to be the difference.
Abigail Carroll led the offense with four goals, and Madison Murphy added three goals and an assist. Kenna Newman scored twice and five other Bearcats got on the scoresheet in the loss. Sofia Afkham and Kristen Scheidel had six draw controls apiece, as BU dominated the draw 21-12. Emily Manning made 11 saves.
BU opened the game with a goal by Murphy off a feed from Emily Masera, but UNH responded with five straight goals to force a Bearcat timeout. Three straight goals by Binghamton (Newman, Carroll and Masera) created momentum at the end of the quarter.
The Wildcats scored five of the first six goals of the second quarter to grow the lead to 10-5. In the final seconds of the period, Murphy scored off a pass from Jesse Barer to make it 10-6 at the break.
Despite a goal by New Hampshire to open the second half, three straight by BU brought the score to 11-9 in favor of the Wildcats. Marisa Tancredi and Kristen Scheidel each scored and Madison Murphy notched her third finish of the contest over that span. UNH sandwiched two goals around a Newman goal to finish out the quarter.
Four unanswered by the Bearcats changed the tone of the game, as the score went from 14-10 to 14-14. Then, a shot by Carroll hit goalie Issy Torres' stick and ricocheted off the crossbar. UNH scooped it up and ended up scoring on its possession.
New Hampshire won a pivotal draw control late and regained possession twice as the shot clock reset on both occasions. Binghamton got the ball back with just over a minute left, but a turnover effectively ended the contest.
The Bearcats will finish the regular season at Vermont next weekend as they will battle for an America East playoff spot with UMBC and UMass Lowell. Opening draw against the Catamounts is scheduled for 1 p.m.
