Binghamton University’s men’s soccer team has eight experienced seniors on its roster. But at the Bearcats’ first home game, it was a pair of freshmen, striker Andy Tiedt and back Ryan Walter, that had the crowd buzzing.

Tiedt, who set the New York state goal-scoring record with 62 goals as a high school senior, scored a fantastic header to open up the game’s scoring.

“There were a couple of good goals [in high school], there was one in the state finals that was really good, but I don’t think there was anything like this, in front of 1,800 people,” Tiedt said.

Tiedt, who was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” during his final high school season, said that Binghamton was the only school that recruited him.

“I came from Buffalo, and I don’t think a lot of schools look there,” Tiedt said.

Tiedt assisted the second goal of the game, and scored the game-winning goal against the University of Wisconsin last weekend.

Walter, who also hails from the Buffalo area, leads the Bearcats with three yellow cards this season. On Friday, it was easy to see why.

Walter was relentless in his pursuit of the ball in the first half of the game. One moment he was in Binghamton’s defensive box and the next he was badgering Bucknell’s goalie. His feisty style of play nearly instigated a fight when Bucknell’s Tommy McCabe threw Walter down to the ground in frustration after the two battled for the ball.

“He’s fantastic, isn’t he? He’s an absolute pit-bull,” Marco said. “Walter is just relentless. If there’s anybody [on the opposite team] that we need to calm down, Ryan will calm him down.”

On a team that risks complacency with so many seniors on the roster, a pair of contributing freshmen has pushed the older players to constant improvement.