Returning to America East play, the Binghamton men’s soccer team continued its season with a 1-0 loss at UMass Lowell on Saturday night.

Despite maintaining a scoreless draw deep into the second half, the Bearcats went down to 10 men in the 72nd minute and could not hold on, surrendering a score soon after as they suffered their fourth consecutive defeat.

“So out of the back four, three of them had to get replaced, and those are just some difficult things,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I think the red card obviously hurts us because now we have to change how we’re playing.”

Binghamton (4-8-0, 0-2 AE) was hot out of the gate, as a deep ball from senior back Rio Onwumere to sophomore forward D.T. Megliola almost led to an open goal opportunity in UMass Lowell’s (6-4-1, 1-1 AE) box in the third minute. The Bearcats continued to push down the field, and in the ninth minute, a shot inside the box from junior midfielder Alex Balkey nearly found twine.

The Bearcats continued to apply pressure to the River Hawks’ back line as Randazzo attempted a header from the edge of the six-yard box in the 11th minute. The River Hawks saw their first chances of the game at the 15-minute mark, when they rattled off a pair of shot attempts, the second of which was handily saved by senior goalkeeper Jack Root.

“The one great thing that has come is they’ve been executing the game plan,” Marco said. “They’ve been trying to stick with how we want them to play. We were more direct in this last game, and I think you’ll see that the rest of the way.”

Both squads struggled to create chances as the first half continued to progress, with neither squad registering a shot until the 31st minute, when Randazzo had a shot fly over the net. A minute later, Binghamton’s back line was put to the test as UMass Lowell attempted four shots over six minutes.

However, two of the River Hawks’ shots went out wide, and the other two were scooped up by Root. The foes went into the half deadlocked.

“We have good chances in front of goal, and they go wider over,” Marco said. “I don’t think it’s any one thing. I mean, they’re certainly different in training. I think maybe losing kind of breeds losing — you think you can’t do things, rather than thinking that you can.”

UMass Lowell opened the second half with a near score in the 48th, as a ball played into Binghamton’s box was skied on the shot attempt. The Bearcats responded with a near score of their own when a shot from Randazzo inside the box flew over the net in the 51st.

Both squads continued to search for the match’s opening score. The Bearcats attempted three shots and the River Hawks went for two, but none were on target as the stalemate persisted into the 71st minute.

After picking up a yellow card in the 66th minute to prevent a River Hawk’s transition attack, Randazzo was given his second of the match in the 72nd minute. Binghamton was forced to play the remainder of the match with 10 men.

“[Randazzo’s] first yellow card, I think he has to take that,” Marco said. “It’s a good tactical foul right at the halfway line. But then the second one is, I mean, I can’t even understand it. You know, you’re on a yellow, you can’t go reaching for things.”

Following the red card, Binghamton continued to search for a score, attempting several counterattacks. UMass Lowell, however, capitalized on Binghamton’s aggressiveness with a counterattack of its own, rapidly progressing down the pitch and finding the lone score of the match in the 81st minute.

Despite their best efforts, the Bearcats were held out of the net for the remainder of play, as they fell to the River Hawks 1-0.

“The way that they scored the goal on a counter off of our throw-in is really disappointing,” Marco said. “So it was difficult, but I did think we did pretty well [defending] in the game.”

The Bearcats will look to get back on track when they host NJIT on Saturday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.