The Binghamton University women’s soccer team began its two-game road journey by facing the University of Hartford last night. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, the Hawks were just a little better as they bested Binghamton 1-0.
Prior to the match, Binghamton head coach Sarah McClellan cited Hawks goalkeeper Lauren Brodeur as a focal point in how her team will approach the match.
‘[Hartford] has a strong keeper,’ she said. ‘So we plan to throw a lot of numbers in to the box and try to overload the keeper.’
Both teams were unbeaten following the first week of America East conference play. The Bearcats (3-8, 1-1 AE) got their third win of the season against divisional foe University of Maine in their conference opener. That win also ended a four-game losing streak for Binghamton, which helped boost the team’s confidence, according to McClellan.
‘The win helped our players to feel good,’ she said. ‘It was a fresh start for us and the players believe we can win the rest of our games.’
Winning the rest of their games was a great goal to have, but the Bearcats’ hopes of winning out were quickly dashed, as the Hawks (4-6-2, 1-0-1 AE) defeated them 1-0 last night at Al-Marzook Field. Hartford junior forward Breeanna Robinson put her team ahead in the 70th minute after receiving a pass from sophomore Amelia Pereira and beating out double coverage. Binghamton outshot its opponent 5-2 in the first half, but the second half was a different story, as it was outshot 7-1 by Hartford.
‘We were trying to push our forwards up into the box. It wasn’t so much the amount of shots as it was the shot selection,’ McClellan said after the match. This is a different mentality than the one the team had earlier in the season, when it outshot Delaware State University 22-2, and Iona College 23-5. The Bearcats are moving more toward a quality-over-quantity approach when it comes to scoring chances.
Of Binghamton’s six shots, half of them were on goal. Junior forward AnnMarie Rizzi led the team with two shots on goal in the match, while freshman midfielder Kaitlyn Cook tallied the other. Freshman goalkeeper Carrie Martin faced just two shots on goal, making one save. The attention paid to Brodeur prior to the match was well-deserved; she ended up securing her third clean sheet of the season. The Bearcats edged the Hawks 2-1 in corner kicks. Hartford is now 1-0-1 in conference play, while the Bearcats fall to 1-1, while also worsening their road record to 1-5. BU has now been shut out six times this season.
Binghamton will wrap up its two-game road trip against the University of Vermont (1-10, 0-2 AE) on Sunday. The Catamounts, much like the Bearcats, faced a tough non-conference schedule and have struggled to put the ball behind the net. They won their first game of the season aginst Rider University 2-1 in double overtime, but have since lost 10 straight games. They’ve scored just three goals in their last nine matches. Vermont is a young team with most of their players being freshman and sophomores.
‘Vermont is a talented [team],’ McClellan said. ‘They have quality players, they just can’t close games.’
Since 2005 Binghamton has beaten Vermont three times. Last year, the Bearcats beat Vermont 3-1 at home, and hope for a similar result at Burlington.
The team will look for sophomore forward Sarah Furminger to catapult the attack. Furminger leads the team with three goals, eight points and 12 shots on goal this season. She netted the lone goal in Binghamton’s victory over Maine. Furminger didn’t register a shot during the loss to Hartford.
The team has six more games left in the season, three of which will be played at home, including a game against last year’s America East champions, Boston University.
‘It’s still too early to tell but Boston is the team to beat,’ McClellan said. ‘They have had a challenging schedule.’
The Bearcats’ match at Vermont is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.