STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Binghamton men's lacrosse team reached the win column for the first time this season, defeating Stony Brook 12-10 Saturday at LaValle Stadium.
The Bearcats' two members of the 2024 America East All-Rookie Team helped propel Binghamton to victory.
Andrew Girolamo scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season, while
Jack Mellen posted his first two tallies of the year. Binghamton also had seven other players score one goal, while
Connor Winters made nine saves in goal for the Bearcats.
Both
CJ Mangio and
Flynn Wilson also had a career day at the faceoff X. Mangio won eight faceoffs on 12 attempts, while Wilson was victorious on seven out of 12 attempts. Both statistics were career highs in faceoff victories for the duo.
"I thought today was a great team win," said Binghamton Men's Lacrosse Head Coach
Kevin McKeown. "We had contributions from a ton of guys and didn't' have to rely on one area or a specific person to carry us. CJ and Flynn stepped up at the faceoff X, and we had timely stops defensively in the second half."
Binghamton got out to a quick start, scoring three goals in the first 3:11 of the game. Mellen recorded the first two, with the opening goal being with the Bearcats up a man, while
Gage Adams scored the third. Then, off a turnover in Stony Brook's offensive zone,
Matthew Rincon collected the ball and raced down to the other end of the field with
Paolo Capucciati to his left. Before receiving Rincon's pass, Capucciati knocked the stick out of his defender's hands to get open. The senior then used his own long lacrosse stick to fire in his first goal since his freshman year to make it 4-1 Bearcats. Following Stony Brook's opening goal from Ryan Barker at 9:13, Girolamo closed out the opening quarter with his first goal at 6:14.
With the Bearcats up 5-1, Stony Brook opened the second quarter with two goals on the man advantage from Carson Boyle and Collin Williamson in the first 1:08 of the frame.
Tyler Martini responded with his first collegiate goal at 10:14. Following a Stony Brook tally by Justin Bonacci at 9:49,
Liam Ferris scored his only goal of the game at 7:13 to help Binghamton go into halftime with a 7-4 lead.
Dan Garone opened the scoring in the third quarter with a goal at 13:45 to make it 8-4 Binghamton. The Bearcats added two goals from
Nolan Sharkey and Girolamo, while Stony Brook posted four tallies in the quarter, courtesy of Brendan Marino, Bonacci, Caleb Yeung and Richie Dechiaro.
Holding on to a 10-8 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, Stony Brook made it a one-goal game at 8:49 with a strike from Barker. Rincon quickly eased the pressure on the Bearcats with his second goal in as many games just 34 seconds later. Girolamo then completed his hat trick at 7:09 to give the Bearcats a 12-9 lead. Binghamton's defense tightened up moving forward, allowing only one more goal from Stony Brook at 5:30 from Williamson. Stony Brook committed five turnovers in the fourth quarter, while Winters made three saves in the final 15 minutes to help Binghamton leave Long Island with the victory.
Other Highlights
• The Bearcats set season highs a team in several categories, including goals (12), points (19), assists (7), shots (44), shots on goal (30) and ground balls (39).
• One game after setting a career high with two caused turnovers against Siena on Wednesday, Rincon set a new career best with eight ground balls. That is the most a Bearcat has recorded in a game this season. Mangio also posted a career high in that same category with six.
• Both Rincon and
Nolan Sharkey also led Binghamton with a game-high two caused turnovers each.
• Adams' goal in the first quarter pushes him past Joe Licata for the sixth-most career goals in Binghamton men's lacrosse history at 64. The senior is now two behind Phil Cavallo's 66 for the fifth-most in program history.
Up Next
The Bearcats begin America East Conference play with a game at UMass Lowell on Friday, March 14 at 3 p.m.
