The Binghamton women’s soccer team went 1-0-1 over its two games this past week, drawing 0-0 at Syracuse on Thursday before defeating Colgate 3-2 on Sunday.

Thursday’s match against Syracuse was played in heavy rain and ended an eight-game losing streak against the Orange, while Sunday’s bout against Colgate saw Binghamton score thrice in the second half en route to a 3-2 victory.

“Generally overall, we were pretty pleased in terms of our performance,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “We’ve played Syracuse the last four years, and it’s been a one-goal loss, and the last two years we felt like we’ve pretty much been with them. But this year, going into it, we felt like we were the better team.”

Thursday’s match against Syracuse (4-1-3) saw Binghamton (5-1-1) open aggressively, searching for the back of the net by taking four shots in the first 16 minutes of the game. Syracuse responded with a couple shots of their own before Binghamton outshot Syracuse 4-2 in the last 10 minutes of the period. Despite the deadlock heading into the half, Binghamton registered four more shots on goal than Syracuse, outshooting the Orange 8-4.

“We were the aggressor right from the start of the game, put them under pressure, made it really difficult for them to play,” Bhattacharjee said. “And I’m happy with the performance and how everyone stuck to the game plan.”

The second period saw Syracuse attack Binghamton more aggressively, attempting eight shots on goal, all of which were saved by junior goalkeeper Rebecca Kessler. Kessler recorded a career-high eight saves, helping lead the Bearcats to their first defensive shutout of the season.

Despite attempting 14 shots on the night, Binghamton’s offense was unable to find the net, ending the game 0-0 for their first draw of the season.

Sunday’s game saw the Bearcats take on Colgate (1-3-3), only to quickly trail 1-0 as the Raiders found twine in the 16th minute. The Bearcats struggled offensively in the first half, registering just one shot on goal in the 40th minute. Despite the performance, they held Colgate to just one more shot through the rest of the half.

“Not really the first half we wanted,” Bhattacharjee said. “We didn’t quite play with the defensive pressure we wanted or [do] some of the things that we wanted to do as far as we were expecting to take care of in our game plan.”

After only registering one shot attempt in the first half, the second half saw Binghamton apply significant offensive pressure, with their first goal of the game coming at the 55th minute courtesy of junior midfield/forward Paige Luke. Binghamton continued to rally with another goal in the 69th minute when Luke assisted freshman defender Ale Victoriano. Colgate, however, quickly responded with a goal of their own at the 74th minute, tying the game at 2-2.

The game remained tied until the Bearcats scored at the 84th minute when Luke found sophomore forward Alexus Worrell. Colgate failed to find twine for the remainder of the match, bringing another victory for the Bearcats.

“[Luke] is doing great, I just give her so much credit for all the energy she brings,” Bhattacharjee said. “For her having had surgery last November, and then for her to come back in the type of shape she is and the work rate that she does, it’s just a big kudos to her.”

The Bearcats will look to continue their strong start to the season on Sunday, Sept. 14, when they take on Cornell. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Charles F. Berman Field in Ithaca, New York.