LOWELL, Mass. – The Binghamton men's lacrosse team got off on the right foot in America East Conference play by defeating UMass Lowell 14-12 in their first conference game of the season Friday at Cushing Field.
 
Gage Adams, Liam Ferris and Andrew Girolamo each scored three goals for a hat trick, while five other Bearcats scored one goal each. Connor Winters stopped 10 shots in goal, including two in the final minute and a half, to pick up his 17th career victory, the second-most in program history.
 
"We're happy to get our first conference win on the road today," said Binghamton Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Kevin McKeown. "I thought Lowell competed very well. We did a good job clearing and battling at the faceoff X to get possessions and get the win."
 
Looking to begin a winning streak after defeating Stony Brook 12-10 on Saturday, March 8, the Bearcats once again came out of the gate with the first goal thanks to Girolamo's tally at 11:00 in the first quarter. Tyler Martini, who scored his first collegiate goal against Stony Brook, followed that up with his second goal in as many games at 7:06, putting Binghamton up 2-0.
 
After Johnny Soi's first goal of the game brought the River Hawks to within a 2-1 deficit, Ferris emerged with another play worthy of the highlight reel. Taking the ball towards the far side of the net, Ferris shook off an attempted check by a River Hawk defender before shooting the ball from behind his back and into the goal. The spectacular strike from Ferris helped Binghamton take a 3-1 lead into the second quarter.
 
Both teams began the next quarter by trading a goal, with the River Hawks striking first thanks to Garrett Murphy at 12:20. Binghamton responded just over a minute later with Girolamo's second strike of the day at 11:16. Down 4-2, the River Hawks went on their first run with consecutive goals by Danny Burke and Griffin Sumwalt 1:03 apart to tie the game at four with 5:04 left in the first half. The Bearcats got those two goals back with tallies from Drew Filanowski and Adams to help Binghamton to retake the lead 6-4 with 1:32 left. UMass Lowell would not go away quietly, as both Riley Lawhorn and Murphy scored within the final 30 seconds to tie the game at six heading into halftime.
 
To begin the second half, it was Adams who jump-started the Bearcat offense. The senior, who had not posted more than one goal in a game this season, scored two in a row at 11:31 and 9:04 to secure his first hat trick of the year and give the Bearcats an 8-6 lead. Following a River Hawk goal by Murphy at 8:07, Ferris scored one of his own at 7:29 to make it 9-7 Binghamton. UMass Lowell went on another run of two consecutive goals, courtesy of Alex Lafreniere and Murphy at 7:14 and 3:37.
 
With the game tied at nine, Binghamton closed out the third quarter on a strong note. First, while sprinting behind the goal, Adams drew a defender away from the front of the net before setting up Thomas Kelly, who scored his first goal of the season at 2:18. Girolamo then secured his third hat trick of the season at 1:21, helping Binghamton take an 11-9 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
Dan Garone opened the scoring in the fourth quarter by picking up a rebound off a shot by Will Feldmann before finishing the play with a goal at 13:12 to bring the Bearcat lead up to 12-9. Following a River Hawk goal by Sumwalt, Binghamton made a big play on both ends of the field. After Winters denied a shot next to the crease by Murphy, Anthony Bilello got the ball to Brady Sharkey, who soared across the field to Binghamton's offensive zone. Sharkey then spun around a River Hawk defender before firing in his first collegiate goal to bring Binghamton's lead up to 13-10 at 8:02.
 
A minute later, Ferris scored his third goal of the game on an assist by Adams to put Binghamton up 14-10. UMass Lowell made one final rally with goals by Soi and Murphy to make it 14-12 with 5:52 remaining. In the final minute, the River Hawks tried to complete the comeback. Winters prevented that by making his final save, before the Bearcats successfully cleared the ball and ran out the clock to win their second game in a row.
 
Other Highlights

• Winters' 17th career victory helps him surpass Tanner Cosens for the second-most goalie wins in program history. He now only trails McKeown for the most, as his head coach won 24 games during his illustrious career at Binghamton from 2003-06.
• With Adams' hat trick, he passes Phil Cavallo for the fifth-most career goals in Binghamton men's lacrosse history at 67. Friday's performance was also Adams' 11th hat trick of his career with the Bearcats, which puts him one behind Michael Antinozzi's 12 for the third-most in program history.
• Both Ferris and Girolamo lead the team with three hat tricks apiece after Friday's game. Ferris now has nine for his Binghamton career, which ties him with Tom Moore for the fifth-most in program history. Meanwhile, Girolamo has six during his time as a Bearcat, which is tied for the ninth-most in program history along with Joe Licata, Paul O'Donnell, Rob Williams, Andy Cook and Brandon Planck.
• In his first game since being named Defensive Player of the Week by the America East on Monday, Matthew Rincon led the Bearcats with five ground balls.
• Both CJ Mangio and Flynn Wilson won more than half of their faceoff attempts for the second game in a row. Mangio led Binghamton with nine wins out of 15 attempts, while Wilson had eight wins out of 15 attempts. This follows their stellar outing against Stony Brook, where Mangio went 8-12 from the X and Wilson went 7-12.
• Friday was the first time this season that Binghamton was perfect when it came to clearing the ball, as the Bearcats were successful on all 19 of their clear attempts.

 
Up Next
The Bearcats return home to host NJIT on Saturday, March 22 at noon for their Mental Health Awareness Game. Binghamton is partnering with Goalies Matter to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and to honor Robert Martin, a former goalie for the program who passed away on April 1, 2022.
 
All of Binghamton's home men's lacrosse games this season include free admission on behalf of Station 45 American Chop House. Station 45 is the presenting sponsor of Bearcats Men's Lacrosse.