EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette men's lacrosse defeated Binghamton 10-9 on Tuesday night at Fisher Stadium to capture its first win of the 2026 season. Sophomores Benjamin DiBattista and Joseph Duggan tallied hat tricks in the Leopards' home opener and senior captain Aidan Kopen tacked on two goals and two assists.

The Bearcats were first to put points on the board, thanks to goals from Andrew Girolamo and Drew Filanowski. Freshman attacker Charlie Foley logged his second goal of his Leopard career at the 6:00 mark, but a scoreless final six minutes of first quarter action left the visitors with a 2-1 lead.

Lafayette opened the second stanza with a 3-0 run, which featured goals from DiBattista (2) and Kopen (1). Girolamo made it a one-score game (4-3) at the 11:18 mark, after Colin DeLay supplied him an assist for his second goal of the outing. Duggan fired home his first score of the night not even a minute later (10:32) and senior captain Nick Muller finished off the half with his second goal of the campaign assisted by Kopen. At the intermission, the Maroon and White held a 6-3 advantage.

The first seven minutes of the second half were scoreless, until Duggan found the back of the net with exactly eight minutes to go. The Bearcats dominated the rest of the quarter with a 4-0 spurt, featuring goals from Gavin Jacobsen, Connor Winters, Filanowski and DeLay.

Quarter number four provided spectators with five goals and both sides battled to the wire on College Hill. Foley found Kopen with 12:27 remaining, which gave the Leopards a one-goal lead (8-7), but Girolamo tied the game minutes later (9:33). DiBattista and Duggan quickly responded with back-to-back goals to give the hosts a 10-8 advantage with 6:30 left on the clock. Girolamo fired home his fourth of the day with 2:59 remaining, but head coach Patrick Myers' group managed the clock well down the stretch to earn their first victory in 2026.

Senior captain Joe Doherty made 11 saves in his first action of the season, while his counterpart Winters recorded 15 stops and a goal.

Flynn Wilson won the battle at the x, tallying 13 wins on 22 attempts and he scooped up four ground balls. Junior Nick Faccone went 10-for-22 on the evening for Lafayette and he secured six ground balls.

The Maroon and White are back in action at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, taking on NJIT in Newark.
 

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