VESTAL, N.Y. – Heading into its final game of the 2024 regular season, the Binghamton men's lacrosse team found itself in a complex situation.
 
If the Bearcats defeated UAlbany on the road, Binghamton would win its first America East regular season championship since 2004. But with how tightly packed the standings in the conference were, if the Bearcats were unable to defeat the Great Danes, not only would the team fail to capture the regular season crown…they would also not qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Ultimately, Binghamton's season would end at the hands of UAlbany, with the Great Danes winning the regular season finale 18-10. With the loss, the Bearcats failed to qualify for the America East men's lacrosse tournament for the first time since 2021.
 
Now, the Bearcats set their sights on returning to postseason play.
 
"We're just excited to get going," said Binghamton Men's Lacrosse Head Coach Kevin McKeown, who enters his ninth full season at the helm of the program in 2025. "It's always a really long lead up for us from the start of the school year in August to get here now, but it's been a really fun group to work with and it's exciting to start up the competitions here."
 
McKeown, who became the program's winningest head coach in 2024, brings a roster to the field in 2025 that includes 28 returning players, 10 freshmen and one transfer. Among the group, Liam Ferris, Lorenzo Ramos and Connor Winters were selected for the America East Preseason All-Conference Team. Both Ferris and Ramos previously received America East Second Team All-Conference honors in 2024.
 
Offense
Binghamton's offense will feature a new voice on the sidelines guiding it, as Assistant Coach Tyler Shoults enters his first season with the program. Shoults, who previously served as an assistant coach at Queens University of Charlotte in 2024, looks to help an offense at Binghamton that led the America East in shots per game in 2024 at 44.85 and had the fewest turnovers per game at 15.77.
 
Leading the offensive attack on the field for Binghamton is Ferris, who made an immediate impact during his first season with the Bearcats in 2024. Ferris finished second on the team in goals (32) and tied for second in assists (10). Voted by his teammates as one of the team captains for 2025, Ferris aims to build off that stellar first year in Vestal.
 
"Liam has done a great job as a captain for us this year so far," said McKeown. "Him and Coach Shoults spend a ton of time together talking offense and figuring out what they want things to look like on that end of the field. So he's a guy we're going to lean on."
 
Adding to the attack for Binghamton is Gage Adams. Since transferring to Binghamton from America East rival NJIT before the 2023 season, Adams has scored at least 26 goals for Binghamton in each of the last two years. To go along with his 26 tallies in 2024, Adams also finished the season tied for second on the team in assists with 10. The senior goes into 2025 with the fourth-most hat tricks in program history (10) and is also tied for the seventh most career goals with 61.
 
Two other players expected to consistently contribute for Binghamton are Andrew Girolamo and Jack Mellen. Both players were named to the America East All-Rookie team in 2024 after the duo came through for Binghamton in the second half of the season. Despite missing the first half of the season, Girolamo still scored eight goals, recorded five assists, collected eight ground balls and caused one turnover in seven games. On the other hand, Mellen recorded seven goals, two assists, five ground balls and caused one turnover.
 
Defense
Ramos is coming off a 2024 season where he collected 15 ground balls and caused eight turnovers for Binghamton. Now as the other team captain for the Bearcats in 2025, leads a defense that has experience. Seniors Jack Fearnley and Christian Hanko return for their fourth season with the program. Fearnley tied for the team lead in caused turnovers with nine in 2024 while also collecting 12 ground balls. Hanko also collected 12 ground balls for the Bearcats while causing seven turnovers.
 
Junior Anthony Bilello has his sights set on taking another step forward for the Bearcats in 2025. After appearing in only two games for Binghamton in 2023, Bilello broke through for the Bearcats in 2024 by playing in nine games, seven of which he started. The Farmingdale, N.Y., native collected 14 ground balls and caused five turnovers.
 
Goaltending
Since he last played for Binghamton 19 years ago, McKeown has continued to hold several of the program's career records for goaltending. This year, he could see some of those records broken by Winters.
 
The senior needs 10 wins to break the program record for career goalie wins (24) and 149 saves to pass McKeown for most career saves (509). Winters is also just behind his predecessor, Teddy Dolan, for the most saves per game in program history. Dolan holds the record at 13.41 saves per game, while Winters sits at 13.37.
 
"I would love to see him do it," said McKeown said about Winters potentially breaking some of his records. "I think it would be awesome because that means we're probably going to be having a really good year."
 
In 2024, Winters started in all 13 games for the Bearcats, posting a goals against average of 12.82 and a save percentage of .506. He made at least 10 saves in 12 games, while he also finished second on the team in ground balls with 38.
 
Rounding out the goaltending room for Binghamton are junior Garrett Taylor and freshman Zacc McDonald. Taylor made his first appearance on the field for the Bearcats in 2024, stopping both shots he faced in relief in Binghamton's 15-6 victory against UMass Lowell on March 30. McDonald brings an accomplished high school career with him to Vestal. He was a two-time Texas High School League All-State selection playing for Westwood lacrosse. In 2023, he helped Westwood win the state championship, earning MVP honors in the process.
 
Faceoff
Binghamton has a large void to fill at the faceoff X following the graduation of Ross Chazanow. Chazanow finished his career with the third-most faceoff wins in program history with 359. Chazanow also set the program record for most ground balls in a season in 2024 when he recorded 86.
 
Three players on Binghamton look to take over for Chazanow in 2025. CJ Mangio, the only returning player of the trio, won six faceoff attempts while appearing in seven games for Binghamton in 2024.
 
Two other faceoff specialists joining the Bearcats are freshmen Jordan Raport and Flynn Wilson. The latter had a decorated career at Lucy Beckham High School in Mount Pleasant, S.C., earning USA Lacrosse All-America honors three years in a row from 2022-24 while winning a state championship each season. Raport, meanwhile, was selected to the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference First Team while playing for Randolph High School in Randolph, N.J.
 
Schedule
Binghamton begins its season on Saturday, Feb. 8 at home against Lafayette. The Leopards are the first of six consecutive non-conference opponents for Binghamton to begin the season. Binghamton will also host Marist (Feb. 22) and Siena (March 5), while playing at St. Bonaventure (Feb. 15), Hofstra (March 1) and Stony Brook (March 8). About halfway through conference play, the Bearcats also travel to Cambridge, Mass., to play Harvard for the first time ever on March 29.
 
 "I think it will be a good blend of some different styles that teams play," said McKeown when looking at the non-conference schedule. "I think that's sometimes the goal too when you put together that non-conference schedule. You don't want to see teams that all do the same thing. You see some different teams so when you get to conference play, the hope is you've kind of seen everything that you might be able to see eventually."
 
Binghamton's conference schedule begins with a game at UMass Lowell on March 14. The Bearcats follow that with a home game against NJIT on March 22. After their non-conference game against the Crimson, Binghamton welcomes UAlbany to the Southern Tier on April 5. Road games at UMBC (April 12) and Bryant (April 19) follow, before Binghamton closes out its regular season at home against Vermont on April 26.
 
The Bearcats' game against Lafayette on Saturday begins at noon. All of Binghamton's home men's lacrosse games this season include free admission on behalf of Station 45. For Saturday's game, the first 150 fans who enter the Bearcats Sports Complex get a voucher for a free cup of hot chocolate.