For the first time in three years, the Binghamton University men’s soccer team will not be playing in the finals of the American East tournament at home.

The Bearcats, who have played in the previous five America East finals games, housed the last two against Vermont. This will be different; the Bearcats will take the long trip to Beantown in order to play the No. 1 ranked Terriers of Boston University. The Bearcats players love playing at home, but the trip does not seem to deter Binghamton head coach Paul Marco.

“I’d be kidding you if I said I wouldn’t rather sleep in my own bed, [but] Friday night I’ll be getting some sound sleep … we know what’s at stake … it’s a game we’ll be up for,” Marco said.

Boston, who was described by Marco as “a great team,” barely beat the fourth-seeded Vermont, scoring the go-ahead and eventually game-winning goal in the 82nd minute of their semi-final game. Although Boston University is a great team, Marco’s confidence has not seemed to waver. He believes that the Bearcats will be coming out with a competitive spirit and will be extremely sharp.

Boston has showed Binghamton what it can do, as they scored two goals in the Oct. 11 match-up, which is the same amount that Jason Stenta and the Bearcats gave up to the rest of the America East in regular season play combined. Stenta has nothing but victory on his mind, but knows it will be tough.

“We’re up for the challenge … we know what happened last time we went there,” Stenta said.

Stenta, who ranks in the top five in the nation in save percentage, will have to watch out for Terriers’ forward Shaun Taylor.

Taylor, who has scored nine goals in the 17 games that he has played, puts a majority of his attempts on target. Of those nine goals, four of them were game winners. He is undoubtedly one of the players that Marco talked about when he said that the Bearcats had to “take care of some of [Boston’s] special players.” Just as Taylor has 21 points, including the nine goals and three assists, Binghamton’s leading scorer, Cameron Keith, matches Taylor’s numbers — only Keith has netted six game winners this season. With his nine goals this year, and ten last year, Keith will look to score his 20th career goal on Saturday to move into sole possession of first place on the Binghamton Division I all-time goal scoring list. He is currently tied with Charles Darkwah.

Although the Bearcats had some tough losses to UMBC and Maine down the stretch of the regular season, Marco doesn’t see their stellar play in the playoffs as a turnaround. He believes that even when a team outplays another, as Binghamton did in those two games, it does not necessarily mean that the outcome will reflect that. Marco said the Bearcats have a champion mentality.

“When it got to tournament time, you saw our team a little hungrier, with a little more presence,” Marco said.

The last time the Bearcats won the America East tournament was 2006, and the path to that championship went through the Boston University team in the semi-finals in which Joey Neilson had one of the greatest game-tying goals in Binghamton history. There are numerous players that were on that team, such as current seniors Barry Neville, Mark Wood, Cody Germain, Justin Leskow, Ryan Tomko, Brendan McGovern, Pablo Trillo, injured reserve player Liam Carson, and current juniors Jason Stenta, Kyle Kucharski and Christopher Terry. Marco is sure that the experience of these players will shine through on the field.

Come Saturday, win or lose, Marco considers the year a success.

“The most important thing that we talk about is the legacy that you leave,” Marco said. “[The seniors] will leave us in a better place than what they came into.”

Marco boasted about having a team that is in the top five in the nation academically and is still at the top of the America East year in and year out.

“I’m proud of the seniors that will graduate,” Marco said. “I think we’ve prepared them as much as they’ve helped us.”

The Bearcats play at Boston at 3 p.m.