Bearcats fans who showed up early to Saturday’s men’s soccer game against New Hampshire got a surprise during the pre-game ceremonies.
Cameron Keith, the 2007 America East Striker of the Year and Binghamton University’s leading scorer, has been officially listed as a junior the entire season. But Keith, who has a year of NCAA eligibility remaining, took part in Saturday’s Senior Day festivities. He plans to graduate this spring and return to his native Scotland rather than play a third and final year at Binghamton.
A variety of factors influenced his decision to leave, including homesickness.
“I wasn’t looking to come to America in the first place,” Keith said. “It was [assistant coach] John [Scott] that contacted me. From then I looked into it, but I wasn’t really sure about coming because I’m quite a home-bird, really. I decided to come for a year to see how I enjoyed it. When I first came I was going to just stay for one year. But I really, really enjoyed it here.”
Keith’s first season started slowly with an injury, but he rebounded to score 10 goals and two assists to turn in one of Binghamton’s best Division I seasons by a striker. His first year influenced his decision to stay for the 2008 season, and so far he leads the Bearcats in goals and points again.
Another factor in his decision was that Keith’s best friends at Binghamton — fellow Scots Liam Carson and Darren McAllister, as well as Englishman Mark Wood — will be graduating this spring.
“Most of the guys that are graduating are my close friends on the team, so that had a big bearing on it as well,” Keith said.
Binghamton head coach Paul Marco said Keith’s decision did not come as a surprise.
“We knew that he would be year-to-year,” Marco said. “He has some family and friends that he’s away from. It’s difficult for all our international players, but him in particular. It’s always been known to our staff that he’s year-to-year.”
Keith weighed his decision this fall and recently met with Marco, who encouraged him to take part in Senior Day.
“I told him, ‘I don’t want you to miss out on anything and the experience you can have here, so let’s treat you like a senior and have you walk on Senior Day,’” Marco said.
Keith will graduate with a degree in history, but he plans to explore his professional or semi-professional options this summer in Scotland before settling on a career.
“I’m hoping something will come up soccer-wise,” Keith said. “It’s up in the air whether it will be semi-pro or pro or whatever. I’ll just see what’s there, start preseason with a team and hopefully stick.”
Marco thinks Keith will have a chance to play professionally because of his knack for scoring goals when given space. He will need to work on his strength, speed and quickness in order to create opportunities at the professional level.
As for the Bearcats, Marco’s team will graduate much of its offensive and defensive talent this spring, including Justin Leskow, Barry Neville, McAllister and Wood. Senior Liam Carson, who missed most of this season with an injury, plans to petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt and return in 2009.
“The Bearcats will reload,” Marco said. “The cupboard won’t be bare. We will have to find some new people to keep the sessions light and make some jokes. But I expect us after this season to remember the guys who have graduated, but to have some of our new, younger players start to find their niche in leading our troop the right way.”
Keith emphasized that he wanted to thank the coaching staff and Binghamton fans, who have embraced his scoring sprees and goal celebrations. Keith is known for jumping into the student section after a home victory.
“They’ve all been great to me,” he said.