BINGHAMTON - A high school junior, McKay Ross spends her winters on the Whitney Point basketball court, playing in front of her head coach Sarah Jensen.

On Saturday, as the first signs of summer arrived in the Southern Tier, Ross found herself in something of a juxtaposition.

There she was as a fan, on the sidelines of the Greater Binghamton Sports Complex, watching her coach play quarterback for the Binghamton Tiger Cats.

"It was interesting," Ross said afterward. "It was scary at times, when the girls were going after her."

She added soon after: "It's different. It's a lot more aggressive than I was expecting."

And so, amidst a few big hits, a few long passes, a healthy dose of running plays and, yes, a few rookie mistakes, women's football arrived in the Binghamton area Saturday night.

Let the record show the Tiger Cats dropped their home opener 34-20 to the visiting Keystone Assault, their second straight loss to open this inaugural season.

But let the record also reflect their first home crowd stood somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-450 fans, stretching from end zone to end zone along one sideline, and running three, four and five deep at spots. There were tailgaters in the parking lot beforehand, and younger fans raced in and out of a bounce house, set up well beyond one end zone, during the game.

"The crowd tonight was unbelievable," said offensive coordinator Don Dunbar Sr., who served as Tiger Cats head coach on Saturday.

"I mean, from goal line to goal line we had people. And they were vocal, loud. They cheered the girls. And it was great to play at home. I mean, I think this is our home for a long time, so it was great."

And decked out in Tiger Cats T-shirts and sweatshirts - some featuring players' last names and numbers, others proclaiming "Expect No Mercy" - those fans saw a team comprised largely of football rookies continue to make strides.

Yes, they struggled at times with fumbled snaps. With turnovers. With an Assault reverse that went 37 yards for a second-quarter touchdown, helping stake the visitors to a 14-0 lead.

"We made a lot of mental errors, little things," Jensen said. "I mean, I had two interceptions, and beginning snaps, I kept fumbling.

"But, it's second game in the whole entire season, ever, of all of us playing. So I thought we did some good things."

She wasn't alone.

With his face painted as a tiger's, colored with orange, black and white, Garry Knisely, 25, of Horseheads gave the team high marks as he walked across the artificial turf afterward.

"One of the big things I noticed is that if they made a mistake, they didn't make it twice," he said. "That one reverse (Keystone) pulled on them, it didn't happen again. They're learning really, really quickly. And for their first year, I think they're going to turn out outstanding."

Or, as 24-year-old Lindsay Welch of Endicott put it: "I absolutely love it. I think it's an awesome change and switch-up from men's football (as) opposed to women's football. Because it's so alike, but yet so different at the same time."