Fresh off of a shutout against Canisius on Friday night, the Binghamton women’s soccer team took the field against Lehigh on Sunday looking to close its first two-game weekend of 2015 undefeated. But after six shots and two goals by the Mountain Hawks (2-1) in the game’s opening 15 minutes, the Bearcats’ (1-1-1) slow start led them to their first loss of the season against Lehigh, 4-0.

From the kickoff, the Mountain Hawks navigated BU’s backfield with ease, firing off the first shot of the match only 23 seconds after the opening whistle. In the second minute, following two corner kick opportunities, Lehigh drew first blood when sophomore defender Alyssa Riporti finished a shot off of the Binghamton crossbar to put her team up, 1-0. Just over 10 minutes later, it was freshman midfielder Amanda Marques who scored her first collegiate goal against Binghamton, pushing Lehigh’s advantage to 2-0 with a lofty 7-0 shot advantage to boot.

“I think we got caught on our heels,” Binghamton head coach Sarah McClellan said. “Lehigh did a great job at coming out really aggressive at us, attacking right off the whistle and I think that caught us off guard.”

Following a string of offsides and fouls on the visiting team, Binghamton got its first scoring opportunity off of a header from freshman midfielder Sierra Barr. But Binghamton’s opportunities were no match compared to the firing offense of the Mountain Hawks, who registered six more shots before closing out the half with a commanding shot advantage, 12-2, and a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, it didn’t take long for Lehigh to get back to storming the net, as freshman midfielder Sabrina Mertz put in her third goal of the season courtesy of a botched BU clear attempt. However, as the half went on, the Binghamton offense found more success on the offensive end. Trailing 3-0, the Bearcats were more successful in progressing the ball, tallying four corner kick opportunities and a shot in the final 45 minutes of play.

“We definitely struggled all game to get a rhythm, ” McClellan said. “I thought we just did a better job in the second half of getting the ball forward and at least giving some relief of the pressure on our back line and our midfield.”

Despite the Bearcats’ improved play, they were again outshot by Lehigh, 4-1, in the second half and outscored, 2-0. The final nail in the coffin for Binghamton came on a goal from junior defender Kailin Ojert, volleying a free kick from the left sideline to make the final score 4-0 with 34 seconds to go.

Ending the month of August with a win, a loss and a draw on its record, BU will take this week to focus on next weekend’s matchups against Niagara and Siena, giving the team five days to prepare and recover for another busy weekend.

“This is our first two-game weekend, I think we definitely felt it from a fatigue level,” McClellan concluded. “So this coming week we’ll definitely be gearing up for another two-game weekend that we know we need to play better.”

Binghamton is set to kickoff against Niagara at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.