For the first time in five years, the Binghamton University men’s lacrosse team has won three games in a row, anchored by a young scoring phenom and a goalie who’s been stopping shot after shot.
The Bearcats (3-3) pulled out another win on Saturday with a 9-5 decision over Marist College. The victory gave Binghamton a 5-0 all-time record against Marist and its third straight victory for the first time since 2006.
Binghamton used a fast start to take a 5-1 first quarter lead. Five different Bearcats scored in that stretch, including sophomore Matt Springer, who continued his hot streak by tallying a point in his 20th consecutive game, ranking among the top scoring streaks in the nation. He has recorded a point in every single game he has played as a Bearcat.
“I think we came in pretty fast because we had a lot of confidence coming off these last two wins,” Springer said. “It’s good to come in with your head held high for once instead of being the underdog. We expected to win this one, so that’s why we won.”
But Springer wasn’t done; he finished the day with four goals to bring his season total up to 15. His offensive firepower helped keep the Red Foxes in check as they attempted to mount a comeback. The Bearcats, who average 26.4 shots per game, registered 27 in the first three quarters and finished with 34 total.
Sophomore goalie Kraig Heston also had a huge impact on the game for the Bearcats. Despite facing 20 shots on goal, he was able to make 15 saves.
“Kraig is making improvements each week,” said Binghamton head coach Ed Stephenson. “He’s still a young guy … he’s only going to get better; if he keeps working hard, he’s going to get better each week. He’s done a terrific job so far.”
Heston was playing so well that during the fourth quarter, Marist senior attack Corey Zindel got in close for a solid high-percentage look, and when Heston made a spectacular save, Zindel threw his arms upward in frustration. Heston was named America East Player of the Week yesterday for his performance.
For a team that has tallied no more than four wins in a season since 2006, having three wins by mid-March is a big deal for Binghamton.
“I think in the past couple games, we’ve been playing with a lot of emotion and a lot of physicality,” Heston said. “We’re hustling toward loose balls, making the right passes, scoring the goals. It’s fun to play lacrosse now that we’re winning.”
But Stephenson emphasized that there is always more work to be done.
“We have a young team,” he said. “Our first couple of games, we had opportunities, we just didn’t play very maturely. It’s a growing process for us, we’ve got a lot of young guys playing, we’re gonna make mistakes; we made plenty of mistakes today. I wasn’t happy with our overall performance, but I’m very happy with the win.”
The winning streak has been fueled by Springer’s hot streak. He has eight goals in the past three games and three hat tricks this season. Springer was quick to praise his fellow Bearcats for his scoring prowess.
“Honestly, I don’t do it all by myself,” he said. “I get all those feeds inside; my job is just to put it away, so I’ve got to give credit to my buddies, my teammates.”
“Matt benefits from everyone else, too,” Stephenson concurred. “It’s a team game and we count on [other players] to beat their guys, and when they do, they look to find Matt. I think we’ve gotta look to him a lot more; I don’t think we’re passing particularly well right now. As we become better passers, Matt is gonna score a heck of a lot of goals, more than he’s scoring now.”
Heston also pointed out how the Bearcats’ offensive success translates to defensive success.
“I love it, what [the offense has] been doing the past couple games,” he said. “It makes the defense and the goalie’s job a lot easier because now the opposing offense has to take shots that they normally wouldn’t.”
Next up for the Bearcats is a scheduled trip to Colgate University. Each of the previous three matches between the Bearcats and the Raiders have been decided by two goals or fewer, including Binghamton’s stunning season-opening 7-6 home win over the team last season when Colgate was the No. 20 team in the country.
However, Springer feels quite different about the matchup this time around.
“Now we know that we can beat them, considering we have, and we’re on a hot streak, so I think we should beat them,” he said.
“They’re very tough, very smart, very patient,” Stephenson said of Colgate. “It’s going to be a heck of a game … I think we have talent; we’ve got to get better though. If we can improve, we’ll give them a good fight.”
The Colgate match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. today. The game is the first of three straight road games for the Bearcats to finish out the month of March.