Coming off of a 1-0 win in the America East (AE) quarterfinals over UMBC, the Binghamton men’s soccer team’s season came to an end on Wednesday night with a 3-1 loss to No. 2 Bryant in the America East (AE) semifinals. Bryant was in the driver’s seat for the duration of the match, controlling possession and limiting Binghamton to just two shots in 90 minutes.

“I didn’t think we started really well,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We didn’t leak any soft goals. [Bryant] got two good goals in the first half, and a set piece in the second half. They’re a very good team — one of the top college teams this year — and we’ve played a heck of a schedule. We’ve played maybe seven or eight nationally ranked teams this year. Our conference is just loaded. We just would want to have been playing on Sunday.”

The match began with space being tight for both teams, as Binghamton’s (5-10-3, 2-3-3 AE) and Bryant’s (15-1-2, 5-1-2 AE) defenses looked to suffocate their opposition’s attack. After the first five minutes, though, the middle of the field began to open up and the Bulldogs began to take control.

Bryant controlled the pace of the game with possession of the ball, making sure to not give the Bearcats any openings. When the Bulldogs did get shots, they capitalized. In the 23rd minute, Bryant was able to get the ball in front of the Bearcats’ goal. The Bulldogs proceeded to arc a shot into the goal past graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott to take a 1-0 lead over Binghamton.

Binghamton looked to play more aggressively after Bryant’s goal. However, the Bulldogs stifled any attempt at a Bearcat attack and continued to increase the pressure. Once again, Bryant was rewarded in the 39th minute. The Bulldogs crossed the ball into the Binghamton box, where one of their forwards was waiting to head it in as Bryant went up 2-0. Despite a late Bryant foul that gave Binghamton a long free kick, the score would remain 2-0 going into halftime.

“Bryant only has four goals against on the season until tonight’s game,” Marco said. “They’re averaging a lot of goals per game, and they’re not conceding goals period. So you need to look at how that happens. They have the ball a lot. Their passing is high for a college team. They have very good, mature players who are excellent on the ball. If you don’t give up goals on set pieces, errors and counterattacks, you win a tremendous amount of games.”

The second half began in the same way as the first ended, Bryant continued to build pressure on the Bearcats while stifling any Binghamton attacks. Bryant would get another chance to add to its lead in the 54th minute. While breaking toward the Binghamton net, a Bryant forward was tripped and fouled, leading to a free-kick opportunity. The Bulldogs were then able to thread the ball through the Binghamton defense and past McDermott, making it a three-goal game.

“I thought our goalkeeper could have done a little better on the third goal,” Marco said. “If we said to [McDermott] ‘do you want that one back,’ he would want that moment back.”

The Bearcats continued to fight to get back into the game and finally got on the board in the 76th minute. A throw-in by graduate student back Michael Bush was sent long into the box. After bouncing off senior back Will Noecker, it came to sophomore midfielder Calvin Moe, who put the ball past the Bryant keeper to make it a 3-1 game.

“We have been practicing our set pieces because we know that’s going to be a way we can get a goal,” Marco said. “[Bush] has a very long throw for us, so we put players in key positions and certain areas and [Noecker] is one of them. We’re just trying to flick a ball into space and the ball falls for [Moe] and he puts the ball in the goal.”

Moe’s goal would turn out to be the last of the match, with the score remaining at 3-1 in favor of Bryant until the final whistle. For the second consecutive year, Binghamton’s season has come to an end in the AE semifinals, as the Bearcats were eliminated by UNH in the AE semifinals just a year ago.

With the season now concluded, Binghamton’s focus will now shift to next season as the Bearcats’ future looks to be bright. Freshman forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim and freshman midfielder Alex Balkey earned AE all-conference honors, as they were both named to the 2023 AE all-rookie team.

“I think the group that I have are first-class guys,” Marco said, “We’ve got no bad apples in this group. What’s disappointing is for the time, energy and effort you put in, it’s just such a short season. I just wish I had more time to be with them and more games to play with them. We are getting better. If we had started in August where we are now I’d really like to see where this group could go.”