University of New Hampshire’s men’s soccer team will visit the Bearcats Sports Complex tomorrow for the America East Tournament quarterfinals.

The question is: Who will show up on the other side of the field?

Will it be the experienced Binghamton team that defeated University of Wisconsin-Madison, took University of Maryland to the wire and dominated No. 2 seed Albany? Or will it be the team that dropped 1-0 games to conference bottom feeders UMBC and Maine?

Look at it any way you want. At best, the Bearcats lacked a mental edge in key moments. At worst, they’re inconsistent.

“That’s definitely the way it looks,” said senior midfielder Barry Neville. “We’ve had a couple of tough road losses but I think we feel like there’s times in games we should have killed teams off and we didn’t, so there’s inconsistency when it comes to finishing.”

Binghamton went 5-0-1 at home this season, 3-1-0 in neutral games and 2-4-2 away. Plenty of AE teams would be happy to have the season Binghamton had. But the Bearcats have raised expectations over the years, so now any season that doesn’t end in the NCAA Tournament ultimately ends in disappointment. Fortunately, Saturday’s game will be played in the cozy confines of the Bearcats Sports Complex. Since the stadium was constructed, nearly every game has been a win. But in order for Binghamton to get to the NCAA Tournament, it will have to win three straight games, including at least one, probably two, road games.

That’s a tall order for a team that has not won three straight all year. Every time the Bearcats seemed to get on a roll by winning two straight, they dropped the next game.

It might not be fair to point too hard at the UMBC and Maine games. By all accounts, the Bearcats dominated play in those matches and had their share of bad luck. I wrote at the beginning of the season how in soccer, the best team can lose games in unfortunate circumstances. Over time, there seems to have been a pattern in the disappointing losses. Binghamton dominates the ball for most of the match, then loses focus for a minute and gives up a goal.

In contrast, the regular season champion Boston University has been consistent in the AE, dropping just one game to No. 2 Albany and tying No. 4 Vermont. The Terriers, because of their No. 24 position in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), are also locked to make the NCAA Tournament even if they lose in the conference tournament. The difference between Boston and Binghamton is not experience — the Bearcats have seven seniors — nor is it talent and coaching, because Binghamton rivals any AE team in those areas.

The difference between Boston and Binghamton is scheduling.

While the Bearcats played some tough teams early in the season, including Maryland and Wisconsin, the Terriers’ out-of-conference schedule is perennially loaded with college soccer’s elite. They opened up the 2008 season against No. 4 Boston College, No. 13 Massachusetts, No. 3 Connecticut and No. 11 St. John’s. Even though they went just 0-3-1 against those teams, the Terriers received a huge RPI boost just for playing them. And getting up for a game against UMBC or Maine must be easier after facing that murderer’s row early in the year.

It’s not completely coach Paul Marco’s fault that his team faces weaker teams early. Boston has several top teams within an hour’s drive, and when it travels a short distance for a road game, it can prepare as if it is the home team and still get the RPI benefits of playing an away game.

Marco says his team will face more major conference opponents over the next few years. The problem has been that the Bearcats have trouble finding elite teams in the local area or elite teams willing to travel to Binghamton.

“Next year’s schedule we’ve added a few top-RPI teams,” Marco said. “We increase our fan base here a little bit more, and maybe we can get those kinds of teams to come here.”

Traveling across the country to face the best teams can take a physical toll on a team, making it difficult to win those games. But as Boston has shown, the away team in tough games does not need to win to get the RPI boost. And, it is precisely the physical toll of traveling that can harden a team and give it the mental edge needed to win at a place like Maine. Until Binghamton makes some sacrifices and plays the elite, it will not get at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Even though the Bearcats will lose seven seniors by the time they get the schedule they deserve, perhaps a tougher schedule in the next few years will make the team more prepared for the America East.

When that happens, Binghamton will have no trouble winning three in a row. Perhaps the team will even develop enough consistency to let us know who is showing up in the next game.