FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart men's lacrosse team battled back from a 4-1 halftime deficit to tie the Binghamton Bearcats 6-6 in the fourth quarter Sunday, only to fall 8-6 at Campus Field in the season opener for both teams.

Sophomore midfielder Alex Dodge (Smithtown, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with four points, tallying a hat trick. Cody Marquis (Londonderry, N.H.) added two goals as Mike Mawdsley (Innisfil, Ont.) had a goal and an assist. Freshman Brian Masi (Smithtown, N.Y.) had two assists in his collegiate debut. Chase Godfrey (Glenville, N.Y.) led Sacred Heart with five ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Binghamton (1-0) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game on goals by Paul O'Donnell and Matt Springer. Sacred Heart (0-1) was held without a shot for the first 11:08 of the game, but made the score 2-1 on Dodge's first goal of the day. O'Donnell scored twice more for the Bearcats, giving Binghamton a 4-1 lead at halftime.

The Pioneers' offense came alive in the third quarter. Dodge notched his second goal of the day with Sacred Heart on the man advantage, putting a Mawdsley feed past Bearcats goalie Max Schefler to make the score 4-2 with 12:59 remaining in the quarter. With 11:57 to play in the third, Marquis scored his first goal of the season off of a Matt Gannon (Huntington, N.Y.) pass to cut the deficit to one 4-3. The two teams traded goals for the remainder of the quarter, as Marquis and Dodge matched tallies by O'Donnell and Springer to make the score 6-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mawdsley tied the game 6-6 2:17 into the fourth quarter, slamming home a pass from Dodge right in front of the crease. Binghamton outshot Sacred Heart 10-5 in the final period, taking back the lead with 9:01 to play on O'Donnell's fifth goal of the game. The Pioneers' attempt at a comeback was hindered by three penalties in the final five minutes of the game, as Binghamton added an insurance goal with 4:40 to play to make the final score 8-6.

The Bearcats outshot the Pioneers 47-25 for the game and won 12 of 17 faceoffs in the game. Binghamton was 5-for-12 on extra-man opportunities while Sacred Heart was 2-for-5. Schefler made seven saves for the Bearcats while the duo of Jon Flood (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Ryan Hughes (Bayport, N.Y.) combined for 20 saves.

The Pioneers are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 22 with a 1 p.m. game against High Point at Campus Field.