Another Northeast Regional tournament for the Binghamton University men’s club soccer team, another disappointing outcome.

On Oct. 18, the Bearcats headed into the tournament as the ninth-ranked seed and a strong favorite to place, but BU fell short once again. After last year’s rough 0-2-1 showing at Regionals, Binghamton looked to redeem itself in a very tough division. The Bearcats’ first game was against a very talented Lehigh team, which failed to capitalize on a couple of first-half opportunities.

Binghamton rebounded after a flat first half, but couldn’t put away any of their chances and had to settle for a 0-0 tie.

“There’s no doubt we looked tired,” said sophomore captain Colin McGovern. “We definitely got lucky on a couple of plays, but at the same time, we should have scored on a few.”

However, since the other game in the division — played between the eighth-seeded University of Maryland and the 25th-seeded West Chester University of Pennsylvania — also ended 0-0, all four teams were even at the end of the first set of games.

The second game would have a different outcome for Binghamton, but not one they wanted. The Terrapins came out hungry, and they had all the bearcat that they could eat.

Maryland struck first when an opposing midfielder made a nice run down the left side of the field and placed a loose ball past BU goalie Joe Krisch.

The first half would end with Maryland ahead 1-0, but the Bearcats were not out. Binghamton came out and controlled the first 15 minutes of the second half, and all was going well until BU midfielder Andrew Birstingl received an unwarranted red card and was thrown out of the game.

The calls were not going Binghamton’s way, and 10 minutes later the ball did not go the right way, either.

Since the Bearcats were down one player, their marking was a little looser than normal. On a Maryland corner kick, a rebound came loose in the six-yard box and an open Maryland forward headed the ball into the back of the net to give the Terps a 2-0 lead.

Desperation kicked in for BU, but it was not enough and the Bearcats fell by a score of 2-0.

“We out-played them and that’s why this loss is so tough,” said junior captain Paul Guijarro. “We had the same opportunities they did, if not more; we just didn’t put ours away. I thought that red card on Andrew was a little harsh. The referee could have been a little better, but that will happen and you have to get over it.”

Although Binghamton was not mathematically eliminated from the tournament, it didn’t look good since only one team from each of the eight divisions advances.

Elimination aside, the Bearcats came out and dominated the final game against West Chester from start to finish.

After a couple of close chances, BU finally put one away when senior forward J.J. Gould ripped a shot from the top of the 18-yard box. The West Chester goalie made the save, but the rebound went right onto the foot of BU midfielder Craig “Pitbull” Holub, who buried it into an open net.

The Binghamton defense held the score at 1-0 until halftime.

The Bearcats pulled away early in the second half when forward Erwin Seguia passed a beautiful ball onto the foot of forward Matt “Bandana” Naioti, who drove the ball like a Joba Chamberlain fastball past a helpless West Chester goalie.

Binghamton extended its lead 20 minutes later when midfielder Mike Garcia played a ball through the defense and forward Chuby Okoye chipped it past the goalie for a 3-0 lead.

“We absolutely dominated the last game,” Guijarro said. “West Chester tied Maryland, 0-0, to start the day, so that shows that we had the potential to win this division. I’m not happy with the overall outcome, but we finally got a win at Regionals and that’s a start.”

The team has come a long way in the past few years.

“We’re improving each year,” Gould said. “Sure, eventually we will win Regionals. This club was almost nothing four years ago when I started. We didn’t even know what ‘Regionals’ were. Now we’re consistently ranked in the top 10, season after season. We might not have won Regionals this season, but it sure feels like we did.”