The Binghamton women’s soccer team traveled to South Orange, New Jersey on Thursday evening to take on Seton Hall in its third match of the year. After Seton Hall controlled the first half, going up 2-0, BU worked to outshoot the Pirates in the second half and created multiple scoring opportunities but was unable to find the back of the net. Ultimately, the game ended with a 3-0 loss for the Bearcats.

“Yeah, so tough, tough you know for the loss,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “I felt like the first 5 minutes we were a little bit nervous. Then we actually played pretty well for about a 20–25 minute period in the first half.”

Once the game went underway, the Pirates (2-1-0) were able to get two shots off within the first four minutes. Not long after, BU (0-2-1) countered with three shots of its own. The first two shots came from senior midfielder Victoria McKnight and the third shot, which made it on the net, came from graduate student midfielder Olivia McKnight. In the 15th minute, Seton Hall was able to find the back of the net as the Pirates took an early 1-0 over the visitors.

“We were just starting to have a decent run of the play and the goal came against the run of play,” Bhattacharjee said. “But we still had a decent response after that.”

After the goal, the Bearcats made an effort to get the ball back and get its offense going. Another opportunity came for BU in the 21st minute of the game as a shot on the net came from sophomore defender Allison Falvo. The ball was sent to the bottom left of the net but was stopped by the Seton Hall goalkeeper. Subsequently, Seton Hall was able to make it to the net twice and had two shots on goal that were both stopped by junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams. However, the Pirates would go on to score their second goal of the game in the 34th minute, giving them a 2-0 lead over the Bearcats. Going into the second half, the Bearcats had four shots in comparison to the Pirates’ seven.

“When we gave up the second goal that’s when I felt like the energy drop, so that’s something we can control in terms of that response,” Bhattacharjee said. “We did have a slight possession advantage, the shot difference wasn’t a significant difference, so I don’t know if it was quite a three-nothing game but you know, there were some good moments, some good takeaways.”

Starting off the second half, BU looked to even the score but was unable to finish on its opportunities. The Bearcats were able to outshoot the Pirates in the second half with seven shots, while the Pirates only got off six.

“We’ve created opportunities but now we have to finish,” Bhattacharjee said. “A game especially like Canisius we created multiple opportunities, just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

The ball went back and forth between the Bearcats and the Pirates throughout the remainder of the half, with both sides getting shots off and trying to create opportunities. Then, in the 72nd minute, the Pirates were able to find the back of the net once again — their third of the game.

“Some good takeaways for us,” said Bhattacharjee. “Some things we can continue to build off of you know as we go through conference play.”

BU continued to try and find the back of the net throughout the remainder of the game. Another shot on goal came from sophomore forward Lauren Clark in the 86th minute. Clark went for the bottom center of the net, but the ball was saved by the keeper. The game would end with a 3-0 loss for Binghamton, extending the Bearcats’ scoreless streak to three games.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to create opportunities,” Bhattacharjee said. “I mean, that final quality on that final pass, that final finishing touch. There’s things that we’re going to need to know about Syracuse from a defending standpoint, in terms of their athleticism and their overall play, so those are things that we will work on, discuss a little bit more in detail tomorrow, but, we expect it to be another opportunity for us to get a result on the road.”

BU stayed on the road to take on Syracuse on Sunday, Aug. 27. Kickoff was set for 7 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium in Syracuse, New York.