VESTAL, N.Y.—Led by two goals from junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.), the UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team (2-11, 2-4 America East) ended the 2022 campaign on a high note, taking down Binghamton (5-8, 3-3 AE) in a 9-7 win Saturday night.
 
"It was a team win, and I'm really proud of our guys. We've been really competitive in all our conference matchups this year," said Head Coach Ed Stephenson.
 
Foley paced the crew with a pair of tallies to cap the year on a 14-game point streak extending back to last season. He finishes his junior campaign with a team and career-best 39 points off a team-leading and collegiate-high 29 goals and 10 helpers. Graduate students Kyle Laforge (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Domenic Giachello (Somers, Conn.) ended the night with two points each off a goal and an assist.
 
Four of the River Hawks' notches against Binghamton came off the sticks of freshmen. Riley Lawhorn (Amherst, N.H.), Khairi Sears (Columbus, Ohio), Bradley Brown (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) and Ryan Quinlan (Mattapoisett, Mass.) all logged goals in the season finale. Brown and Quinlan's tallies also marked collegiate firsts for the rookies. Additionally, Quinlan's goal marked the first goal by a UMass Lowell defenseman since February 21, 2020, when Cam Hult scored one against Siena in a 16-15 win.
 
At the faceoff X, senior Liam McDonough (Groton, Mass.) closed his career with 14 faceoff wins in 20 attempts for a season-high .700 success rate. Sophomore Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, N.Y.) stopped 12 shots to finish with a season-best .632 save percentage and his second win.
 
"Liam dominated the faceoff. Anthony played a great game in the goal tonight. The defense also held [Binghamton] to single digits, which is remarkable. That's a very talented team, and I was so proud of the guys for being resilient," said Stephenson. "Riley also had a great goal to get momentum back when we needed it. He put a really quality shot on goal. Ryan [Quinlan] also came down on the fast break to get his first goal. It was just a great game overall."
 
The teams played a highly defensive first quarter with just two goals allowed in total. Foley put the River Hawks on the board first after tearing one past Binghamton's Teddy Dolan just over three minutes into play. The UMass Lowell defense held the Bearcats off for 12 minutes before Binghamton found an opening to level the score with 2:41 left in the opening frame.
 
The River Hawks dominated the second quarter with five unanswered goals to Binghamton's one. Lawhorn sparked the offense after battling through a stalwart Bearcat backline to find twine. Sears, Laforge, Foley and Quinlan peppered in shots before Binghamton snuck one in with 21 seconds left in the half to hold UMass Lowell to a 6-2 margin at the break.
 
Despite goals from junior Nick Harvath (Whitmore Lakes, Mich.) and Brown, the Bearcats controlled the pace in the third. The home team stalled UMass Lowell's hot streak with three tallies to claw back to within three at the end of the third.
 
Binghamton net an additional two goals in the final 15 to put heat on the River Hawks, but outstanding goaltending from Mancino and a rip from Giachello ultimately secured the 9-7 road win for UMass Lowell.
 
With tonight's win, the River Hawks end the 2022 slate with an overall 2-11 record and a 2-4 mark in conference action.