Stephani Church capped off a dramatic comeback with a game-winning goal eight minutes into the first overtime period Sunday afternoon at Maine, leading the Binghamton women’s soccer team to a 3-2 victory.
Church, a sophomore forward, took a long ball from sophomore midfielder Katie Corcoran and found the back of the net as the Bearcats (7-4-2, 2-1-1 America East) overcame a 2-0 deficit for their second conference win. Church has scored five goals this season, recording four game-winners.
“[Church] is playing really well in clutch moments of a game,” BU head coach Sarah McClellan said. “The team just played so hard in the second half and in the overtime, and Church was also working hard and was able to get a shot for the position to finish that off with great composure.”
The win awarded three points to Binghamton, who stands in fifth and trails the first-place Black Bears (6-4-4, 3-1-1 AE) by three points.
But the Bearcats’ prospects of gaining ground in the standings seemed bleak at first.
The Black Bears scored just 3:37 in, after creeping behind the Bearcat defense, and notched their second goal 19 minutes later after a corner kick to take a 2-0 lead.
“Their goals woke us up,” McClellan said. “I think what happened is, it was a long trip for us and we just came out a little bit slow and a little bit flat defending … And Maine capitalized on it. And then we woke up and started to play a little bit cleaner … and we started to get back after it and play the way that we want to play.”
BU responded four minutes after Maine’s final goal off of a corner kick of its own. Freshman forward Michele Galvin fed the ball to sophomore midfielder Rebecca Raber, who converted it for her second goal of the season.
Corcoran added the Bearcats’ second goal to tie the game in the 58th minute when senior forward Conor O’Brien sent her a pass well outside the box. Corcoran launched a 22-yard shot that sailed over Maine sophomore keeper Lauren Swant’s head and into the upper netting.
On the defensive end, junior keeper Gaby Gold collected four saves in her 76 minutes, allowing no goals during her time between the posts. Senior starter Carrie Martin notched one save in her 23 minutes of play. On Maine’s end, Swant made six saves during her 98 minutes in goal.
In three America East road games, the Bearcats are 2-0-1, the tie coming at New Hampshire.
“Every conference win is a huge win,” McClellan said. “We’re really excited especially to get a road win, but we know that we still have a lot of work to do and some very tough opponents coming in this week.”
After spending Homecoming Weekend away from home, the Bearcats are slated for three games on their own turf and one on the road to wrap up their regular season. First up, Binghamton is scheduled to host fourth-place Hartford.
The Hawks (8-4-3, 3-2 AE), like Binghamton, ride a two-game winning streak after shutting out UMass Lowell, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore defender Erica Primovic netted two goals in the contest, tallying the team’s third and fourth in the 61st and 65th minutes. Freshman keeper Jessica Jung recorded her sixth shutout with four saves.
“Hartford’s just coming off a pretty dominant win this weekend so we’re expecting them to be a good team,” McClellan said. “We know they’re a fast team, and we’ve played them very close the past couple of years, so we expect nothing but another tight, quality game.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.