Coming off a 2-1 season-opening win at Lehigh, the Binghamton women’s soccer team went 1-1 over its two games this past week, defeating St. Bonaventure 2-1 in Thursday’s home opener before falling 2-0 to Monmouth on Sunday. Both matches saw the Bearcats create several chances, rattling off at least 15 shots in each, but their offense was only able to convert its looks during Thursday’s victory.

“Overall, [I’m] pretty pleased with the performance,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee about Thursday’s game. “I thought the pressure on the ball, different areas of the field, was pretty good. Scored a couple of good goals.”

Binghamton (2-1-0) began its week with a home opener against St. Bonaventure (0-1-1) on Thursday afternoon. BU quickly got on the board after gaining possession in the opposing box before sophomore forward Jahkaya Davis buried the ball in the top left corner.

The Bearcats continued to dictate the pace of play and control possession, while hounding the Bonnies’ net as six different Bearcats registered shot attempts by the 26th minute. Binghamton continued its domination through the remainder of the first half play as the Bearcats held a 10-0 shot advantage entering the second half.

“[Shot selection] is something that we talked about at halftime, and so I think we can take our chances a little bit better,” Bhattacharjee said. “And the other thing too, especially in the first half, we were just settling for low percentage shots, things from 30, 35 yards out where we really weren’t under pressure. We could just keep the ball, knock it and then just continue to play good soccer.”

Picking up where they left off in the first half, the Bearcats attacked St. Bonaventure’s net with three unanswered shots. In the 57th minute, Davis found herself controlling the ball as she approached the final third of the field, and she embarked on a 50-yard run, dribbling past several Bonnies before slotting it in the back of the net for her second career brace.

St. Bonaventure opened its scoring book in the 73rd minute. While the Bonnies continued to search for their equalizer, the Bearcats held them to just one shot through the remainder of play for a second consecutive victory.

“When I play, I try not to think, so I just go with the flow,” Davis said regarding her second goal on Thursday. “I heard one of my coaches say, ‘Really go at her,’ so that’s what I did, and it ended up in the net.”

Sunday’s contest saw the Bearcats take on Monmouth (2-2-0), and they once again opened the match with significant offensive pressure, rattling off three consecutive shot attempts between the fifth and sixth minute of play. BU continued to attack the Hawks’ net when junior midfield/forward Paige Luke nearly found twine in the 15th minute.

The teams continued to search for the opening score throughout the first half, but neither squad was successful as the Bearcats entered the second half losing the shot battle 8-6.

“In many facets we can be pleased with the effort today,” Bhattacharjee told bubearcats.com. “But of course ultimately we are disappointed with the result. We have a lot of respect for Monmouth as they’re perennially one of the top teams in the region. They had stretches of the game and we had stretches as well.”

The Bearcats opened the second half with a barrage of attempts, registering five shots on goal while blanking the Hawks through the 65th minute. Monmouth soon responded with a flurry of its own, rattling off three unanswered shot attempts before the fourth attempt found twine, breaking the deadlock in the 70th minute. The Hawks scored once more in the 78th minute as the Bearcats stared down the barrel of a 2-0 deficit.

The Bearcats attempted to build back some momentum, and they nearly scored in the 82nd minute when a shot from Davis bounced off the woodwork. Ultimately, they were held scoreless for the rest of the game, suffering their first defeat of the season.

Binghamton will continue its road trip with a matchup against Marist on Thursday, Aug. 28, as it looks to bounce back from the first loss of the season. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at the Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field in Poughkeepsie, New York.