VESTAL, N.Y.- The Binghamton men's lacrosse made a dramatic fourth-quarter rally, but came up just short in a 13-12 loss to Hartford Saturday. The Bearcats scored five goals in the final period of the America East home opener at a chilly Bearcats Sports Complex.
BU fell behind several times throughout the match, but continued to fight back. Trailing 12-7 entering the fourth frame, the Bearcats mounted a thrilling comeback. J.T. Hauck scored his third goal of the day with 13:54 left, starting the rally. A few minutes later, Paul O'Donnell found Tucker Nelson for a goal, making it 12-9 with 10:30 remaining. Hartford answered with a goal at the 8:10 mark, but BU pushed on.
At the end of a broken play in the midfield, George Deignan ended up with a rush, scoring from straight on to pull within three at the 6:56 mark. Three minutes later, O'Donnell assisted on another Hauck goal to inch the hosts even closer. Hauck found the back of the net again with 1:40 showing on the clock, as Sean Gilroy hit the senior on a nifty pass in close. Hartford came away with a tightly-contested faceoff, setting up Kevin O'Shea for a chance to seal the decision in the Hawks' favor. Tanner Cosens turned away O'Shea's point-blank shot with one minute to play, giving BU a final chance to tie the game. The Bearcats missed wide on a shot and could not come up with the tying goal as time expired.
Dan Mazurek scored Binghamton's lone goal of the first quarter, winning a faceoff and driving straight in for his second goal of the season. The visitors held a 5-1 advantage at the end of the period. In the second frame, BU got back into the match Hauck scored with 10:43 left in the half and then O'Donnell hit Gilroy for a score at the 9:22 mark. After a Hartford goal, Ben Kocis fired a shot past the Hawks' goalie with 7:12 to go. Just 26 seconds later, Hauck scored again to get the Bearcats within 6-5. The visitors responded with three straight goals to close out the first half, however.
With 9:32 remaining in the third, Kocis scored his second goal of the contest, but Hartford scored on the other end. O'Donnell put together a nice move and finish with 6:40 to play, making it a 10-7 margin. The Hawks scored the last two goals of the third period, taking a five-goal lead into the final frame. BU harassed Hartford into four turnovers as Cosens made four key saves in the last 15 minutes.
Hauck led with a career-high five goals. O'Donnell posted a goal and three assists. Kocis scored twice and Gilroy added a goal and an assist. Cosens tallied 11 saves in net. Mazurek won 15-27 faceoffs and collected seven groundballs. Jaedon Henderson paced Hartford with two goals and three helpers.
Hartford edged BU in shots, 38-37. Binghamton took 16-29 faceoffs in the game and successfully cleared 22-25 attempts.
The Bearcats head to UMass Lowell for another America East match on Saturday, April 4, at 1 p.m.
(Courtesy: Binghamton University Athletics)
