With four consecutive wins under its belt, the Binghamton women’s soccer team is set to face Temple tonight.
Though the Bearcats (4-1) have inaugurated the 2013 season with consistent success, head coach Sarah McClellan said that her team doesn’t look to the past.
“We don’t even talk about it,” she said. “What we’re trying to do, our goal, in approaching each game, is that we want to just improve … And I think the team has responded very well in making adjustments each game to improve their performance.”
BU’s four-game winning streak featured three shutouts before Niagara scored on senior goalkeeper Carrie Martin in Binghamton’s most recent win.
Sophomore forward Stephani Church scored in the third and 12th minutes against Niagara, finishing off passes from senior forward Conor O’Brien and sophomore midfielder Rebecca Raber. In the second half, junior midfielder Emily Nuss netted the final Bearcat goal in the 83rd minute.
Martin, who has already posted three shutouts, recorded four saves in the first half before junior Gaby Gold subbed into goal.
Tallying assists in both of last weekend’s contests and, according to McClellan, scoring a “world-class” goal against Lafayette, Raber earned America East Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.
A week earlier, Church, who had scored a team-high three goals, received the accolade.
“[Church] did a great job setting up some goals and scoring some goals, so she’s making a great impact on our front line,” McClellan said. “And then this week with Rebecca Raber, that’s huge because Raber has been really competing hard and scored a phenomenal goal the other day.”
With Church and Raber leading the way, Binghamton will face a Temple (4-2) team that has lost two straight matches after opening the season on a four-game winning streak. The Owls won all four games on the road, while they suffered a pair of 1-0 defeats to Marshall and Rider at home.
In their most recent contest with Rider (3-2), a first-half defensive battle led to a stalemate at the break. But six minutes into the second half, a Temple turnover resulted in a goal for the Broncs.
Though Temple had several opportunities to even the score, it couldn’t convert and fell 1-0 to its visitors. Owl Karly O’Toole had the best chance, taking a shot off a penalty kick on a Rider handball. But the Broncs’ goalkeeper made a spectacular save and stifled the attempt.
Still, the Owls held the shot advantage, accumulating 26 shots, seven of which were on goal. Rider attempted only eight shots, with three on goal.
“I know that Temple is a really strong team, and I think they started off with a pretty good record. So they’ve had some success,” McClellan said. “They battle for the full 90 minutes, and that’s something that we’re going to have to match and be prepared for.”
Following its game at Temple, Binghamton is scheduled to face Marist at home Sunday. McClellan said this weekend’s games should provide her team an opportunity to continue preparing for America East play, which is set to begin on Sept. 29.
“We really want to improve in every aspect of the game,” McClellan said. “We want to increase our speed of play every time we go out and really get that game experience and get tested by these teams to get us ready for conference play.”
BU’s match against Temple is set for 4 p.m. Friday at Ambler Soccer Field in Ambler, Pa., while Sunday’s match against Marist (2-2-1) is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.