The Bison men’s lacrosse team faced Ohio State this past Saturday, Feb. 22 at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, falling by a score of 15-11. This marks the Bison’s first loss of the season, bringing their season record to 3-1.

Ohio State’s Buckeyes scored the first goal only five seconds in the game. The Orange and Blue, however, then scored four goals to take the lead. Attackers Tommy Sopko ’21 and Alston Tarry ’22 each scored two goals during that stretch. Ohio State answered back, scoring eight consecutive goals to make the score 9-4 with only a few minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Midfielder Hunter Newman ’20 scored his first collegiate goal with less than five minutes in the second quarter, cutting the Buckeye lead to four heading into the half.

The Bison scored the first two goals of the second quarter, cutting even more into the Buckeye lead. Attacker Will Yorke ’20 netted one of his three goals during this two-goal spurt. The Buckeyes answered with two more goals, making the score 11-7.

Despite a late goal by attacker Harry Wellford ’23 to bring the Bison within two goals, Ohio State went on a three-goal run and the Bison were unable to respond.

Sopko finished with five points on the day, with four goals and one assist. Midfielder Nick Clarke ’21 also made significant contributions with three assists, four ground balls and one caused turnover.

Yorke finished three goals, and Tarry finished with two. Midfielder Reid Delanois ’22 had four ground balls and forced three turnovers. Goalkeeper Ben Clark ’21 totaled 11 saves.

The Bison and the Buckeyes were still quite even despite the loss, posting similar numbers in shots, ground balls and faceoffs. 

Midfielder Matthew Barkauskas ’22 said, “Losing to Ohio State was tough, our team battled hard for four quarters and unfortunately, we did not play well enough to win. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and bring the same energy to focus on Binghamton Tuesday night.”

The Bison definitely keep the high energy in their game against Binghamton on Tuesday, Feb. 25, posting 16 goals and holding Binghamton to four. Yorke led the offense with four goals and three assists, and received assistance from freshmen, who earned their first collegiate minutes as well. Freshmen Jack Feda, Jack Billitier, Luke DiIorio and Ethan Opdahl all netted goals to contribute to the Orange and Blue victory.

Defenders Travis Talarico ’22, Conor Shears ’20 and Newman all made significant defensive contributions to keep Binghamton’s scoring to a minimum. Talarico and Nick Crovatto ’22 both finished the game with six ground balls.

Ten different Bison scored over the course of the game. Tarry netted two goals and posted three assists, Sopko added two goals and attacker Brett Hobbs ’22 finished with two goals and a single assist. Yorke also set the school record with a total of 18 shots, three higher than the previous record.

The Orange and Blue host Marist this coming Saturday, Feb. 29 at Christy-Mathewson Memorial Stadium.