Goals are something that Binghamton University has prayed for over the last couple of weeks, and Thursday night the dam finally burst as the Bearcats put three past the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to win 3-0. But even though Binghamton (7-8-1, 1-5-1 America East) finally earned a conference win, University at Albany locked up America East’s sixth and final postseason berth with a tie on Thursday afternoon, effectively precluding Binghamton and UMBC (1-10-5, 0-4-3 America East) from reaching the conference tournament.
The Bearcats came into Thursday’s game in desperate need of offense, having scored only three goals in its previous nine encounters.
Binghamton played an incredible first half, putting two goals away within the span of 11 minutes. The offensive burst came as a welcome surprise, as the Bearcats had failed to score in the previous 190 minutes.
Binghamton senior midfielder Emily Pape was able to break the deadlock in the 12th minute, converting her second goal of the season off an assist from junior forward Conor O’Brien.
“We talked before the game that we wanted to get the first goal,” Binghamton head coach Sarah McClellan said. “It set the tone of the game.”
Then in the 23rd minute junior forward Kaitlyn Martin was able to double the Bearcats’ lead as she put away her first goal of the season. This capped a statistically even half as the Bearcats registered four shots on frame, with the Retrievers proving equally as potent in front of the goal, putting up the same tally.
The second half swung once again in favor of the away side, as the Bearcats were not only able to hold onto their lead but increase it as well. Freshman midfielder Rebecca Raber put the game beyond a doubt, picking up a pass from Martin and slotting home to open her account for the season.
“Well you know it’s a really big moral victory,” McClellan said. “We had a monkey on our back in terms of scoring. The team did just a tremendous job today.”
Martin put in a stellar performance on the night, scoring the second goal of the game and assisting on the third.
“[Martin] had a great game,” McClellan said. “She was getting to the end line, getting crosses and got a couple breakaways. She worked very hard and it paid off for her.”
Junior goalie Carrie Martin started the first half and recorded four saves in her time between the posts. She was followed in the second half by fellow junior goalie Stephanie Speirs, who finished the game with three saves to bring the Bearcats’ running total of clean sheets to five on the season.
Though Binghamton’s postseason chances are shot, McClellan said her team still has something to play for in Sunday’s season finale at the University of Vermont.
“Regardless of playoffs we want to put out a good performance and we want a good team to get better,” she said. “We want to have pride in the product we put out there.”
Kickoff against the Catamounts is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday at Archie Post Athletic Complex.