After being defeated 5-0 in its homecoming match to Vermont, the Binghamton men’s soccer team hosted Cornell on Tuesday night for its 1,000th match of program history and was ultimately edged in the contest 2-1. After Cornell controlled possession in the first half to take a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime, BU managed to tie the game up in the second half. However, a Cornell goal, late in the second half, propelled it to victory.

“We’ve had 1,000 competitions in men’s soccer,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I think that it helps you realize you’re certainly just a piece of something that’s much bigger than you, and I feel like that’s how we are as a program. I feel like with our guys it is ‘we before me.’ So to be part of the 1,000th match here at home … it was all the things that you would want with maybe the exception of the outcome.”

Binghamton’s [3-8-2, 1-1-2 America East, (AE)] defense went to work early on. An aggressive Big Red (7-3-2, 1-1-2 Ivy League) attack would control the pace of play for much of the half, constantly pressuring BU’s offensive zone. Despite this, the Bearcat’s defense was able to get the necessary clears and blocks to keep Cornell at bay during the opening stretch. This included a leaping save out of dead center courtesy of sophomore goalkeeper Jack Root in the 11th minute to keep the Big Red off the board.

“I really felt like [Cornell] did a really good job against some of the things we were trying to negate,” Marco said. “We outnumbered them in midfield, and it still felt like they had an extra player in there just because of their mobility and their ability to move with and around the ball.”

Later in the half, Cornell would eventually capitalize on its opportunities. After a Binghamton free kick was turned over to the Big Red, a Cornell player sprinted ahead of the pack, toward the BU goal. In the 27th minute, this drive would get all the way into Binghamton’s box and past Root as Cornell took a 1-0 lead.

“I was really disappointed on the first goal because we made two errors in that moment,” Marco said. “You have a couple of guys take a play off, and take the moments off, and that was just really disappointing because I felt like at that point, we were still chasing the game a little bit.”

From there, Binghamton’s offense began to pick up. The first shot of the game from a Bearcat came in the 31st minute when senior back Will Noecker got off a roundhouse kick shot over the Cornell defense that went wide right. Another BU opportunity came in the 36th minute, off a corner kick, with a sequence of headers that eventually ended up in the Cornell goalie’s gloves. Heading into halftime, BU found itself down 1-0.

To open the second half, BU continued to be aggressive on offense. This paid off in the 46th minute when redshirt freshman back Cailen Thomas found the back of the net for his first-ever collegiate goal. Binghamton would get another look minutes later from freshman forward Marcus Nahim, but it went just wide left. With the game now tied at 1-1, both teams went back and forth, looking to take the lead.

“At halftime, I asked them ‘what we were trying to do?’” Marco said. “‘What was the game plan?’ Kind of a look in the mirror and hold your hand up a little bit. And I felt like they did it. We got a great response at halftime. The guys responded very well, so that halftime talk worked.”

BU’s more physical play throughout the second half resulted in foul trouble for the Bearcats. A red card handed to redshirt senior Anthony Lazaridis in the 80th minute left BU down a man the rest of the way. The Big Red would capitalize on its advantage, netting a goal from the center of the box during the 86th minute to take a one-goal lead. BU was unable to find the equalizer, suffering a 2-1 loss.

“The red card especially really disappointed me,” Marco said. “That changed the game. We’re down a player now, now we can’t get pressure on a ball, and now they have more time on the ball. I thought our guys fought really well until we conceded the goal.”

BU will resume AE conference play on Saturday, Oct. 21 against UMass Lowell. Kick-off is set for 3 p.m. at Cushing Field in Lowell, Massachusetts.