ITHACA, N.Y. - Binghamton women's lacrosse defeated Cornell in a thriller on Wednesday evening at Schoellkopf Field. The Bearcats recorded one of their biggest wins in program history in entertaining fashion. Prior to this evening, Binghamton had never beaten Cornell in nine previous meetings dating back to 2012, and it was the first win in team history against an Ivy League opponent. The Bearcats also extended their win streak to three games for the first time in a single regular season since 2017. Abigail Carroll had a game-high five goals, bringing her season total to 23. Marisa Tancredi and Hayley Weltner each recorded hat tricks.
"This was a really big win for our players and our program," said head coach Stephanie Allen. "The confidence and composure we showed today were a big part of the outcome. I'm incredibly proud of the grit I saw on the field today, and I hope to see this momentum carry into America East play."
Binghamton got off to a quick start with two goals from Carroll inside the first two minutes of the game. After Cornell got on the board with nine minutes remaining in the opening period, Weltner scored her first goal of the day with just under six minutes left in the period. The Big Red responded with two goals to tie the game at 3-3, but Kenna Newman found Marisa Tancredi with just 15 seconds left in the first period to give the Bearcats a 4-3 lead.
In the beginning of the second period, the Bearcats added another to increase the lead to 5-3 on a Isabella Meli goal with 11:23 left. Although, Cornell battled back over the next six minutes with three unanswered goals to grab a 6-5 lead. Tancredi tied the game for Binghamton with 3:41 left in the first half. Less than a minute later, Cornell added another goal to take a 7-6 lead into halftime.
The Bearcats started the second half almost identically to the first period. Carroll scored her third goal just 41 seconds into the third period to tie the game at 7-7. Tancredi tallied her third goal less than two minutes later to put the Bearcats back in front, 8-7. Cornell responded at the 11:21 mark to draw even, Carroll answered again for the Bearcats with her fourth goal of the game, using her speed and agility to get past the defender to find the back of the net with 8:02 left in the third The Big Red tied the score at 9-9 with 5:56 left in the third period. Over the next five minutes, Binghamton regrouped and rallied with three unanswered goals from Olivia Muscolino, Carroll, and Weltner to recapture a three goal lead, before Cornell added a late goal with 11 seconds left in the third.
Binghamton led 12-10 going into the final period, Weltner found the back of the net for the third time with 13:21 left in the game. Cornell scored two goals in the next three and a half minutes to get within one goal with 9:45 left. Both teams ramped up the defensive pressure, and each team went scoreless for the remainder of the game. The Bearcats stormed the field with jubilation after the final buzzer sounded. Binghamton avenged an 18-4 loss to Cornell from a season ago.
The Bearcats host UMBC in the America East opener on Saturday, March 18 at noon.
