Missed opportunities and one big mistake marked the Binghamton University men’s soccer team’s fourth loss in its last five games on Tuesday as the Bearcats fell to University of Maryland, Baltimore County 1-0.
The match’s only goal came in the form of a penalty kick by UMBC sophomore midfielder Pete Caringi in the 41st minute.
Through the game’s first 40 minutes, Binghamton (4-8, 0-3) did not give up a single shot to UMBC (6-3-3, 3-0). The Bearcats collected seven total shots in the same time span, exhibiting complete control, but failing to capitalize on their chances.
When the 41st minute arrived, a nifty move from senior midfielder Andy Streilein gave him enough space to enter the right side of Binghamton’s box. While making his run to the goal, Streilein fell to the ground from what the Bearcats thought was a good defensive play. The referee blew his whistle without hesitation, much to the chagrin of Binghamton’s head coach Paul Marco. The penalty led to a clean strike from Caringi, easily passing BU sophomore goalkeeper Chris Hayen, marking his fourth goal of the season and the deciding goal of the match.
The penalty kick was one of only two shots attempted by UMBC throughout the entirety of the game, as the second half followed a similar path to the first. Binghamton continued to outshoot UMBC 4-1 in the second half. The Bearcats managed to outshoot the Retrievers 11-2 in the game, leaving Marco disappointed in the outcome, but content with his team’s performance.
“I thought our guys played very well,” Marco said. “I thought they played their hearts out. Soccer’s one of those cruel sports where you can dominate a team and if you don’t put it in the back of the net you don’t get the points. We gave them no real good looks. I watched their warmup and I thought they looked sharp so I’m extremely proud of how our guys played today.”
The Bearcats dominated the game on both offense and defense, keeping the ball on the Retrievers’ side of the field and putting pressure on their defense for nearly the entire game. But all of the pressure did not result in any goals for a Binghamton team in desperate need of a win.
Binghamton junior forward Jake Keegan had the most opportunities to put the ball past the goalkeeper with four shots taken. Keegan had two of his best chances in the 27th minute and 80th minute. The first came off a throw in that UMBC senior goalkeeper Daniel Louisignau mishandled. It eventually rolled to the foot of Keegan, who chipped it just over the crossbar. The second came off a cross that was mishandled by a UMBC defenseman, rolling once again to an eager Keegan, who missed inches to the right of the post.
“Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t,” Keegan said. “I haven’t scored in a while and hopefully [next game] I can get back on the score sheet.”
With the loss, the Bearcats remain winless in conference play.
“I told them the losing stops,” Marco said, looking ahead. “I think the losing mentally has stopped. I think today the team was a bit unlucky and I didn’t see a losing mentally at all in our team tonight. And I don’t expect to see that again. I think that our team has moved on from who we were and we’re working toward becoming a little bit better and we’ll see that tomorrow in our training.”
Binghamton will look for its first win in conference play tomorrow night against University at Albany.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.