He had yet to start a collegiate game in his short career. Nevertheless, when tasked with the unexpected duty in a clash an hour south of his hometown, freshman goalkeeper Jamison MacLachlan stepped up when his team needed him the most.

With the rookie in cage, the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team overcame rainy weather to topple the Binghamton Bearcats 7-3 for a key road victory on Saturday, April 16. The Seawolves’ defense allowed just one goal in the first three quarters and forced Binghamton (4-6, 2-1 AE) into committing 25 turnovers.

“I am really proud of the effort in tough conditions,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said in a press release. “Our defense was flying around and JaMo did a great job in his first collegiate start as a true freshman. He made some big stops, did a great job in the clearing game, and brought a ton of juice out there in the cage.”

Stony Brook (8-4, 3-1 AE) won its third consecutive game after losing four of five before this streak. MacLachlan was the story of the afternoon, recording 10 saves in his first career start while having played not even three full minutes between the poles before Saturday. 

Senior Anthony Palma started the first 11 games of the season at goalie up to this point, and sophomore Nick Squicciarini, an LIU transfer, played the entire second half of last week’s NJIT blowout. He entered with a 9-6 lead after Palma recorded only four saves against the winless Highlanders in the first half, and Squicciarini also gave up six goals against four saves during his time on the field, but the Seawolves’ offense did enough to secure the 20-12 rout.

On Saturday, it was MacLachlan’s time to shine. After conceding the first goal of the game midway through the first quarter, the Syracuse native recorded seven straight saves before Binghamton scored again. Backed by a stellar defensive performance which blanked the Bearcats for almost three whole quarters, the Seawolves took full control of the contest. 

Stony Brook poured on seven consecutive goals, taking advantage of two extra-man opportunities as attackman Dylan Pallonetti and midfielder Matt Anderson were the game’s only multi-goal scorers. Pallonetti extended his active scoring streak to 26 games. Attackman Will Button made his second straight start and found the back of the net for the third straight game.

The Seawolves were able to dominate by holding the ball for much longer. Stony Brook out-shot Binghamton 48-29 in total and 27-13 in terms of shots on goal, secured 17 ground balls to the Bearcats’ eight, and coughed the ball up just nine times while Binghamton did so 25 times. Bearcats attackman Kevin Winkoff, the team’s leading scorer, was shut out for the first time all season.

Binghamton goalkeeper Teddy Dolan did his best to match MacLachlan’s performance with a career and program-high 20 saves, but it was not enough considering how much more active Dolan had to be. His save percentage of .741 was still not higher than MacLachlan’s .769.

Wth the win, Stony Brook took down one of the two remaining America East teams sporting unbeaten conference records. Binghamton had not played in 18 days as the team grieved the suicide of backup goalkeeper Robert Martin.

Nearing the end of the regular season, the Seawolves can make it four straight on the road against the UMBC Retrievers next Saturday. It will be seen if MacLachlan earned himself a second straight start in the cage, but he made the best case he could for himself with the way he helped shut down the Bearcats.