Despite maintaining a scoreless draw deep into the second half, the Bearcats went down to 10 men in the 72nd minute and could not hold on, surrendering a score soon after as they suffered their fourth consecutive defeat.

“So out of the back four, three of them had to get replaced, and those are just some difficult things,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I think the red card obviously hurts us because now we have to change how we’re playing.”

Binghamton (4-8-0, 0-2 AE) was hot out of the gate, as a deep ball from senior back Rio Onwumere to sophomore forward D.T. Megliola almost led to an open goal opportunity in UMass Lowell’s (6-4-1, 1-1 AE) box in the third minute. The Bearcats continued to push down the field, and in the ninth minute, a shot inside the box from junior midfielder Alex Balkey nearly found twine.

The Bearcats continued to apply pressure to the River Hawks’ back line as Randazzo attempted a header from the edge of the six-yard box in the 11th minute. The River Hawks saw their first chances of the game at the 15-minute mark, when they rattled off a pair of shot attempts, the second of which was handily saved by senior goalkeeper Jack Root.

“The one great thing that has come is they’ve been executing the game plan,” Marco said. “They’ve been trying to stick with how we want them to play. We were more direct in this last game, and I think you’ll see that the rest of the way.”

Both squads struggled to create chances as the first half continued to progress, with neither squad registering a shot until the 31st minute, when Randazzo had a shot fly over the net. A minute later, Binghamton’s back line was put to the test as UMass Lowell attempted four shots over six minutes.

However, two of the River Hawks’ shots went out wide, and the other two were scooped up by Root. The foes went into the half deadlocked.

“We have good chances in front of goal, and they go wider over,” Marco said. “I don’t think it’s any one thing. I mean, they’re certainly different in training. I think maybe losing kind of breeds losing — you think you can’t do things, rather than thinking that you can.”

UMass Lowell opened the second half with a near score in the 48th, as a ball played into Binghamton’s box was skied on the shot attempt. The Bearcats responded with a near score of their own when a shot from Randazzo inside the box flew over the net in the 51st.

Both squads continued to search for the match’s opening score. The Bearcats attempted three shots and the River Hawks went for two, but none were on target as the stalemate persisted into the 71st minute.

After picking up a yellow card in the 66th minute to prevent a River Hawk’s transition attack, Randazzo was given his second of the match in the 72nd minute. Binghamton was forced to play the remainder of the match with 10 men.

“[Randazzo’s] first yellow card, I think he has to take that,” Marco said. “It’s a good tactical foul right at the halfway line. But then the second one is, I mean, I can’t even understand it. You know, you’re on a yellow, you can’t go reaching for things.”

Following the red card, Binghamton continued to search for a score, attempting several counterattacks. UMass Lowell, however, capitalized on Binghamton’s aggressiveness with a counterattack of its own, rapidly progressing down the pitch and finding the lone score of the match in the 81st minute.

Despite their best efforts, the Bearcats were held out of the net for the remainder of play, as they fell to the River Hawks 1-0.

“The way that they scored the goal on a counter off of our throw-in is really disappointing,” Marco said. “So it was difficult, but I did think we did pretty well [defending] in the game.”

The Bearcats will look to get back on track when they host NJIT on Saturday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I thought our strikers weren’t very good today, in build-up play, in possession, holding the ball,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We played balls in the first part of the game and we were losing most of them.”

The Wildcats (3-4-3, 1-0-0 AE) nearly opened their scoring book in the fourth minute of play, with a header attempt bouncing off the post. Just three minutes later, Binghamton (4-6-0, 0-1-0 AE) created a chance of its own, as junior forward Anthony Randazzo attempted a shot during a one-on-one opportunity that went into the gloves of the opposing keeper.

Maintaining its offensive pressure, a UNH header from inside the box flew just over Binghamton’s net in the ninth minute, maintaining the deadlock.

Both offenses began stalling by the ninth minute, with the two squads making just three shots total. Re-energized by a trifecta of substitutions, a deep-through ball from redshirt freshman back Ryan Conti made its way to a breaking junior forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim, who slotted it past the UNH keeper for a Binghamton score. Despite four shot attempts in the closing minutes of the period by the Wildcats, the Bearcats entered the half with their 1-0 lead intact.

“I thought that [Nahim’s] pace was going to give them an issue,” Marco said. “And it clearly did, that’s how we got the goal.”

After nearly 10 minutes of scoreless play to open the second half, the Bearcats took advantage of commotion in the attacking third as sophomore forward D.T. Megliola headed the ball toward Randazzo, who gave BU a 2-0 lead with his third score in three games. Seconds after the score, a UNH fast break saw them rattle off an attempt that was handily saved by graduate student goalkeeper Daniel Shannon.

“I think that if I had to give any piece of advice to the group right now, [on Bryant’s goal-scoring plays], there are moments that each of them knows they could have been a little bit sharper, a little bit better, had a better starting position,” Marco said.

With only 13 minutes remaining in the match, the Wildcats found their first score of the night, stoking the flames of a comeback in the process. UNH continued to aggressively drive down the pitch, forcing three consecutive corner attempts and shutting down BU’s progression through the midfield.

The Bearcats’ hopes for a win were shattered in the 87th minute, as UNH would score once to even the match, before following up with another score to take a 3-2 lead. The Bearcats created a pair of chances in the final two minutes of play, but they could not find twine, falling 0-1 in AE play.

“I mean, we’re winning the game 2-0,” Marco said. “We shouldn’t have lost the game. The guys have to have a look in the mirror and see. They compete hard, and then there’s competing to win, and that’s where we don’t have it right yet.”

Binghamton will return to nonconference play when it hosts Cornell on Tuesday, Sept. 30. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“Gutted, just disappointed that we don’t get at least a point in the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We did well enough tonight to at least get a point. A very good goal, but two defensive errors leading into the goal, so that’s disappointing.”

Both Binghamton (3-4-0) and Iona (2-1-2) struggled to create offensive opportunities to open the match, with both squads failing to register a shot in the first 17 minutes of play. The Bearcats registered first on the stat sheet when sophomore forward D.T. Megliola found a breakaway opportunity, nearly resulting in a one-on-one with the opposing keeper. However, the Gael’s backline crashed in, forcing a saved shot.

The foes continued to search for each other’s nets, but no additional shots were registered by the 31st minute.

“Pretty pleased with how we played, I thought we started the game terrific and then as the game went on, we got a little tired,” Marco said. “I felt like, maybe with 12 minutes left in the first half, they started to get a hold of the game.”

Following a corner kick awarded in the 32nd minute, Iona attempted its first shot of the game. Just three minutes later, on a counterattack, a blast from the Gaels narrowly missed the corner of Binghamton’s net.

Binghamton had a near-score of its own in the 40th, when a crossing corner kick found senior midfielder Calvin Moe, who headed the ball inches over the net. Neither squad registered a shot attempt for the remainder of play as the Bearcats entered halftime looking to break the deadlock.

“I thought we were decent when we lost the ball,” Marco said. “In the first half, I thought there were just a couple of individual players who could have been in better starting positions, but I felt like overall, we were pretty good in transition to press the ball.”

Coming out of the half with an aggressive press, Binghamton gained possession and forced a free kick on the outskirts of Iona’s box, after which junior forward Anthony Randazzo attempted a bicycle kick that flew over the opposing net. In the 63rd minute, following a scramble in Iona’s box, the Bearcats nearly scored once more off an attempt from junior midfielder Alex Balkey, but his shot was saved.

In the 72nd minute, Binghamton lost possession in its own backfield, allowing Iona to get on the scoreboard.

“We don’t collect on our end,” Marco said. “I mean, there are a lot of balls that we should have put in that goal, both in the first half and the second half. So, just disappointed with the outcome.”

Iona continued to control play following its score, but momentum began to shift in the Bearcats’ favor in the 76th minute. Junior forward Kevaughn Harris began an offensive onslaught with a shot on goal, and soon after, Moe saw his second shot of the night saved by the Gael’s keeper.

Binghamton continued to search for twine with a final shot from graduate student midfielder Simon Knuewe in the 87th minute, but the Bearcats failed to score as they fell 1-0 to Iona.

“I don’t think our strikers were sharp today,” Marco said. “We’ll go back and see how we prepared them a little bit. I don’t think they had the mentality and hunger to go get goals. I thought they could have been a little smarter with their movements.”

Binghamton will continue its 2025 season against Central Connecticut State on Saturday, Sept. 20. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at the Central Connecticut Soccer Field in New Britain, Connecticut.

Binghamton (3-3-0) opened its outing with a match against host Colgate (3-1-1) on Thursday. In a game where unsavory weather limited offensive production, redshirt junior midfielder Gaven Egan quickly appeared on the stat sheet, recording the first two shots on goal of the match by the 13th minute.

The Raiders responded with a pair of attempts of their own, both of which were handily recovered by graduate student goalkeeper Daniel Shannon. The match remained scoreless as the first period drew to a close.

The Bearcats controlled possession throughout the second half while restricting Colgate to zero shot attempts, but they also struggled to create offensive threats, registering just three shots by the 80th minute.

Binghamton’s luck soured in the 83rd minute when the Raiders were awarded a penalty. After missing the penalty kick, the team scored on a rebound, bringing the score to 0-1. Eager to even the score, BU rattled off five shots in the final six minutes, including an attempt that bounced off the top post, but they could not find the game tying score.

Hoping to get back in the win column, Binghamton traveled to take on host Le Moyne (1-4-0) on Sunday. Le Moyne was quick to open its scoring book, seizing the lead on the first goal of the game in the fifth minute.

Searching for its own first score, BU applied consistent pressure in the first half, attempting six shots. However, the Bearcats were blanked as they entered the second period down a goal.

In the 65th minute, sophomore forward D.T. Megliola found junior forward Kevaughn Harris in front of an open net, and he slotted the ball in to put the Bearcats on the board. Just two minutes later, junior forward Anthony Randazzo found twine on a penalty, giving BU its first lead of the match.

Less than a minute later, Randazzo aimed to put the Dolphins out of reach when he notched a brace, giving the Bearcats a 3-1 lead. Le Moyne managed one last score in the 83rd minute, but BU held on for its third victory of the season.

Binghamton will continue its nonconference slate, hosting Iona this Saturday, Sept. 13. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

Binghamton (0-2-0) began its season with a trip to Boston College (1-0-0) on Thursday night. Sophomore goalkeeper Connor Cresswell quickly got to work, saving a close-range shot in the second minute. BU saw its first shot of the game come in the 19th minute, but the attempt went wide as the match remained scoreless.

The Eagles were first to strike, taking a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute, as BU failed to register a shot attempt through the rest of the first half.

“There are a couple of guys that are giving guys way too much space on the field,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Once we sort that out, I think the game will be tighter for us. It was better against Boston College than it was [against George Washington].”

Eager to even the score, the Bearcats continued to apply pressure to open the second half. Still, they struggled to create threatening offensive opportunities, attempting only two shots through the 84th minute.

BU nearly found twine in the 85th minute when sophomore forward D.T. Megliola blasted a volley from the center of the box, but a diving save kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard as they suffered their first defeat of the season.

“I thought that we grew into the game,” Marco said. “We finished the game on a better note than we did starting the game, so that was really good. We got better as the game went on.”

Looking to rebound from a close loss in its opener, Binghamton traveled to Washington, D.C. to take on George Washington (1-1-0) on Sunday. The Bearcats nearly found themselves trailing in the third minute when a Revolutionaries shot rattled off the left post, but GWU still scored its opening goal just six minutes later.

The Bearcats created a slew of offensive opportunities, attempting eight shots and six corners, but they were held scoreless as they entered the half facing a 1-0 deficit once more.

The Bearcats’ misfortune continued in the second half when a strike in the 59th minute gave GWU a commanding 2-0 lead. BU finally got on the scoreboard in the 75th minute when sophomore back Ryan Gillon tapped the ball toward junior midfielder Alex Balkey, who slid in, blasting a g into the back of the net. The Bearcats’ comeback was short-lived, however, as the revolutionaries responded with a score of their own in the 76th minute, cementing a 3-1 loss for BU.

“Today, we literally shot ourselves in the foot,” Marco said. “We were on top of the game pretty much the entire second half, and we give a ball to them twice, behind our back line, that they go in on the goalkeeper by themselves.”

Binghamton looks to secure its first win of the 2025 campaign in its home opener this Thursday, Aug. 28, against Mount St. Mary’s. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

The Binghamton men’s soccer 2024 campaign came to an end Saturday night with a 1-0 loss at No. 3 UMBC in the America East quarterfinals. After outshooting the Retrievers in the first half 6-3, the Bearcats conceded a lone score late in the match and were unable to force an overtime period in the final minutes of play.

“I’d like to thank everyone who came out,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Thanks to all the players and the coaches for their energy, effort and commitment. This was one of the more enjoyable groups. I’ve had a lot of great groups but this is one of the more enjoyable groups to be with. Their selflessness and their commitment to each other and excellence was terrific.”

UMBC (8-6-4, 4-2-1 AE) got off to a quick start, nearly scoring in the second minute from a shot inside the box, but it went left of the Binghamton (8-7-4, 2-3-2 AE) net. The Bearcats responded with a near-goal opportunity of their own in the seventh minute when sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim found sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo on a cross that he headed at the Retrievers’ post. UMBC continued to threaten the BU net, and a deep cross nearly led to a one-on-one chance, but a run-down play from freshman back Ryan Gillon ended the attack.

“I mean inches, the game is a game of inches,” Marco said. “We hit the crossbar and the post three times in the game. Including after they scored a goal I thought we were going to get a goal back. So it’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t be a little more precise with our chances.”

Continuing to apply pressure, UMBC took a chance from deep outside the box, but a save from graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott forced a corner kick that they could not convert. The Bearcats went on to control offensive play for the remainder of first-half play, with redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan and Nahim each attempting a try at the UMBC net. BU’s offensive surge persisted with three unanswered shots, two of which came courtesy of Egan, but they were unable to break the deadlock as the foes remained tied.

“As the game kind of settled in, I thought we were just really good,” Marco said. “I thought the referee, the fouling, they called a lot of just contact in the game, and our guys enjoy contact so we had a lot of fouls called against us.”

UMBC replicated its early surge in the second half of play, attempting two corner kicks and a shot in the first six minutes of play. The Retrievers would continue their roll, earning two more unanswered corner kicks, while BU picked up two yellow cards. The match, however, entered a period of offensive cooldown, as neither squad registered a shot for the next 23 minutes of play.

“We were dealing really well with balls into the near post area,” Marco said. “Their goal came on a floated ball into the back post, but we had a couple of guys misread the ball, they didn’t read it the right way.”

Signifying the match’s turning tides, UMBC continued, rattling off two shot attempts in the 74th minute, both of which were blocked by Binghamton’s back line. After getting called for offsides twice, UMBC found its luck in the 84th minute when, following a corner kick, a Retriever was left open on the second ball, which he headed in for a 1-0 lead. Randazzo attempted two more shots in the final minutes of play, one of which hit the crossbar — his second try to do so in the match — but BU could not break through, bringing the season to an end.

“[The team is] already talking about ‘can we have little pickup sessions this week,’” Marco said. “So I’m really excited to see what the future holds, but a [in a] little mourning right now because the season is over.”

The Bearcats end their season in the AE quarterfinals after a year during which they earned their highest win total since 2015 and a third straight appearance in the conference playoffs. BU will lose key contributors, including McDermott, senior back Carlo Cavalar and graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen. Despite this, AE all-conference rookie selection Gillon and leading scorer Randazzo are expected to return. In a year when several departures left Binghamton’s outlook murky, Marco conveyed satisfaction with the squads’ overall performance this year.

“I am so proud of this team with how they played tonight and how they competed all season,” Marco said. “We have a resilient group and they are great people to work with. Our program is in a good place going forward, but we are really going to miss our nine graduating players.”

The Binghamton men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 draw in its final regular-season match at No. 17 Vermont on Tuesday night to clinch the No. 6 seed in the America East playoffs. BU got off to an early lead, however, a second-half red card saw the Bearcats fall to 10 men and relinquish their lead to the Catamounts in the 88th minute of play.

“I thought we were really, really good,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “The start of the game, the intensity level, the purposefulness with which we played, the excitement the guys showed. I thought we were good on counterattacks and very good on defending.”

Binghamton (8-6-4, 2-3-2 AE) found itself on the defensive early in the match, but Vermont (9-2-5, AE 4-1-2) struggled to string together a complete offensive possession, as both squads were held shotless throughout the first 14 minutes of play. The Bearcats, making efficient use of their limited opportunities, struck first in the 15th minute when sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey lobbed the ball to redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas. Inside the opponents’ box, Thomas found sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim, who buried it into the back of the Catamounts’ net for his first goal of the 2024 campaign.

“We were good at defending on corners in the game,” Marco said. “There were moments when we were just putting the ball out of bounds for a corner because we were OK defending them, but late in the game, our guys were tired.”

Continuing to apply pressure on Vermont’s back line was Nahim, who registered his second shot attempt of the night just one minute after his game-opening score. The Catamounts opened their shot book in the 18th with two consecutive attempts and after a lone attempt from senior forward Mael Lopes, Vermont dominated offensive opportunities throughout the remainder of the first half of play. Although the Catamounts earned seven corner kicks and attempted five shots, they were unable to break through.

“We minimized the good chances that [Vermont] had in the game,” Marco said. “They didn’t really have many good opportunities. We knew we were going to try to give them opportunities from a distance, where we thought [graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott] could do a good job.”

Vermont, needing a win to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AE playoffs, opened the second half, registering two shots on goal in the first seven minutes of action, both of which ended up in the gloves of McDermott. The foes went on to trade corner kick tries and soon after, in the 60th minute, a lob flew into the Bearcats box, and an unopposed Catamount forward got his head on it, but a diving save from McDermott preserved the Bearcat lead.

“The game plan was pretty good,” Marco said. “Until the red card, I thought we were going to see the game out. Then once we got the red card I knew it was going to be really difficult for us to not let them get one.”

The opponents continued to trade possessions and shots, but the foundation of BU’s lead began to crumble in the 78th minute when Balkey was awarded his yellow card, as BU was down to 10 men for the third time this season. Switching into a more defensively-minded formation, Binghamton’s back-line held strong until the 88th minute, when Vermont tied the match at 1-1 on a corner kick. The Bearcats held onto the draw, and despite the last-minute concession, they ended their conference slate with points at Vermont, earning an AE playoff berth.

“[On] Friday, we’ll train at UMBC and then we’ll see how the session goes on Friday,” Marco said. “[Then, we’ll] figure out what we’re going to do on Saturday. But right now we like the mood of the team [and] the rhythm that we’ve been going at for the past few weeks so we’ll see how things go.”

For the third straight year, No. 6 Binghamton will begin its postseason run at No. 3 UMBC on Saturday, Nov. 9 in an AE quarterfinal matchup. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I thought both teams were extremely competitive because there was a lot on the line tonight,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We made saves and [Albany] made saves and there was plenty of end-to-end action.”

Albany (4-11-2, 1-4-1 AE) nearly opened play with a bang in the fourth minute when a long shot got past graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott, but a last-moment diving slide from freshman back Ryan Gillon kept the ball out of Binghamton’s (8-6-3, 2-3-1 AE) net. Soon after, a deep throw-in from sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim found its way to redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas, who headed the ball into the inside post of Albany’s goal, just bouncing out. Albany continued to threaten the BU net, but a chase-down slide tackle from Gillon prevented Albany from taking the lead.

“I felt the guys that came into the game were very lively,” Marco said. “Overall that second group that came into the game was very good.”

In minute 25, the Great Danes found a one-on-one scenario they were searching for, but McDermott kept the match deadlocked. However, just one minute later, on a man-down corner kick opportunity, Albany found the back of the Binghamton net to take a 1-0 lead. After substituting four new players, including sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo, who had not seen the field since Sept. 26, the BU offense began to spark. In the 33rd minute, junior forward Lucas Constante peeled off a deep run on the right wing and sent in a pass to senior midfielder Billy Clark, who tipped the ball into the back of the Great Danes’ net. Neither squad was able to capitalize on their opportunities throughout the remainder of the period, entering the half deadlocked at 1-1.

“I’m pleased with the performance,” Marco said. “We still keep the season alive.”

After being outshot 7-5 in the first half of play, BU looked to gain the lead, as Nahim and Constante each rattled off shots on goal in the first five minutes of second-half play. The Great Danes saw their first meaningful chance of the second half in minute 57, but it was handily saved by McDermott, as BU responded yet again with its own 3-0 run of shots, none of which were able to breach the deadlock. The foes continued to trade shots, each desperate to find the potentially season-saving lead-taking shot, but the match remained scoreless throughout the second period of play.

“I thought we did a better job in the second half and we were a little unfortunate to not get a second goal,” Marco said. “We had a lot of chances for a second goal.”

In the 85th minute of play, the Great Danes were awarded a red card and BU found itself in a man-up position for the final five minutes of play. Just two minutes later, a long looping shot from senior back Carlo Cavalar went toward the back right of the net, but a last-second punch out from the Great Danes’ keeper kept the match knotted. Albany responded by rattling off three shots in the final three minutes of play, none of which found the back of the net. With seconds remaining on the clock, BU embarked on a run in the opponent’s half but lost possession as the clock ran out and both squads settled for a 1-1 draw.

“I would like to go to Vermont and get a very strong performance,” Marco said.

The Bearcats look to clinch their spot in the AE playoffs when they take on Vermont in their regular season finale on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Virtue Field in Burlington, Vermont.

“At the end of the match, I didn’t feel great,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “To start the match I thought we were quite good. We were good for the first 20-25 minutes.”

The match started quietly, with neither team attempting a shot for the first six minutes. Binghamton (8-6-2, 2-3 AE) was the first to break through when sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim rattled off a shot in the seventh minute of play. Bryant (8-4-3, 3-2 AE) swiftly responded attempting two consecutive shots, both of which were blocked. Soon after, in the 11th minute of play, Nahim lobbed a throw-in directly to the Bulldogs keeper, who was unable to get his gloves on the ball, as senior back Carlo Cavalar took possession and played it into redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan, who drilled it in from inside the box for a BU lead.

“I thought that we had a pretty good game plan going in,” Marco said. “The starting positions of the players were very very good. As the game went on we got a little tired. We didn’t pick up second balls, we weren’t covering the ground like we were the first 25 minutes, and then that little span, we didn’t respond well.”

In minute 26, disaster struck for the Bearcats when Bryant scored the game-tying goal. Keeping their feet on the pedal, the Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead on another defensive miscue just a minute later. Bryant’s relentless attack did not give up, however, taking a 3-1 lead just over a minute later. Continuing the offensive pressure, Bryant attempted four unanswered shots throughout the remainder of the first half before the fifth attempt eventually broke through in the 42nd minute, and they took a commanding 4-1 lead to go into the half.

“I think for a couple of the mistakes, we just had a moment of lapse,” Marco said. “Our concentration lapsed a little bit and they were quick to pounce on the ball and they shot the ball when we weren’t ready. They attacked as when we weren’t close enough together, and there were multiple mistakes on all three goals.”

After being outshot 17-4 in the first half of play BU looked to close the gap in the second period, as sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey and junior forward Lucas Constante rattled off a shot in minute 54, however, both chances were also blocked. After traded possessions between the foes, Constante tried another shot, but it went into the Bulldogs keeper’s gloves as the match remained scoreless in the second.

“I thought the team regrouped at halftime,” Marco said. “We tried to get something back in the game early. We got a couple of good chances at their goal early in the second half, and our guys in front of goal have to do better. We hit the ball right at their goalkeeper several times.”

Soon after in the 66th minute, Bryant nearly made it a four-goal lead when an attempted shot bounced off the Bearcats’ crossbar. The Bulldogs embarked on a few more offensive runs, rattling off three more consecutive shot attempts, ultimately to no avail. Constante and graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen each got off a shot on goal, neither of which was able to cut the lead. In the final minutes of play, each squad attempted two more shots, respectively, and the 4-1 deficit remained as the final whistle blew.

“I think [the squad has started to prepare for UAlbany],” Marco said. “I’ve seen in the team chat that they’ve already started dialing in, so we’ll see. It’s a long week — we have to prepare for Albany. They’ll be ready for the match as well.”

The Bearcats look to bounce back as they take on UAlbany for their Senior Day match on Friday, Nov. 1. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“What a terrific and exciting game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Both teams attacked very well and were good on set pieces.”

Binghamton (8-5-2, 2-2 AE) opened with aggression on offense in the first minute, securing a corner kick opportunity in the first play of the match. UMass Lowell (6-3-4, 1-2-1 AE), was quick to respond, going on a fast break run, which graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott ran out to stop. The first shot of the game came in the fourth minute when sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey gained possession just outside the opposing box following a BU corner, but a River Hawk managed to get a leg on it, ending the drive. The River Hawks, eager to open the scoring, went on an offensive run, rattling off three unanswered shots at the BU goal, none of which were able to get past the gloves of McDermott.

“I thought it was one of those games where one moment would win the game,” Marco said. “It wasn’t going to be a lot of moments to get goals — it was going to be one little moment. Ours came on a set piece.”

In the 13th minute, following another corner kick opportunity, graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen got his first look on goal, which was yet again blocked by a River Hawk. Just two minutes later, BU had a chance to open the scoring when a defensive mishap from UMass Lowell nearly led to an own goal. In the 30th minute, a foul just outside the UMass Lowell box saw Cohen send a cross into the box, which was easily headed into the back of the net by redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas for his second goal in two games. The River Hawks managed two more shots throughout the remainder of first-half play but were unable to get on the scoreboard as the hosts went into the half with a 1-0 lead.

“What’s been instrumental to that success is just my teammates,” Thomas said. “They work so hard every single game … everyone works so hard, I just match their energy.”

UMass Lowell was first to create a threatening run in the second half, attempting a shot in the 50th minute that McDermott snagged for his fourth save of the night. After 10 minutes of traded possessions, BU was handed an opportunity to quell the attempted River Hawk comeback when their keeper missed an attempted clearance, and junior forward Lucas Constante gained possession in the final third facing an empty net. However, his deep shot went just wide of the net, and the match remained at 1-0.

“I think it’s just our desire to win,” McDermott said. “We want to score early and win by a lot … Now we have a goal and we are going to get to the playoffs.”

BU continued to apply offensive pressure, with senior back Carlo Cavalar and senior midfielder Billy Clark each rattling off their lone shot attempts of the night, but they were unable to grow the lead. The River Hawks, refusing to take their feet off the gas, continued to apply pressure on the Bearcats’ net. Still, strong performances from their stout back four and McDermott pushed BU to its second consecutive win and fourth shutout of the season despite being outshot 6-3 in the second half.

“I mean, when we go 0-2 to start the conference, it’s difficult,” Marco said. “To pull off last week’s win and tonight, [it’s] wonderful to now be 2-2, .500, back in it, fighting to be in the playoffs.”

BU will look to build its playoff resume on Sunday, Oct. 27 as it continues conference play at Bryant. Kick-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

“I think the difference in the game was we were extremely competitive in all facets of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We were competitive in their box, that’s how we scored goals, we were competitive in our own box, that’s how we negated their opportunities. We won our duels both attacking and defending.”

Binghamton (7-6-2, 1-3 AE) got the ball rolling in the fifth minute of play when sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim registered the match’s first shot on goal. UNH (3-3-5, 1-1-1 AE) saw its first chance just three minutes later when it rattled off a shot that graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott easily kept out of the net. The Wildcats continued offensively, getting off two unsuccessful strikes, before they broke through BU’s back line in their third attempt, to take a lead in the 26th minute.

“We started OK,” Marco said. “I thought we were a little nervous. It’s UNH — we haven’t won there in a while, and a couple of our younger guys were a little nervous.”

In the 29th minute, BU was awarded a throw-in deep in UNH’s territory and Nahim launched the ball into the box where graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen controlled it and took a shot from within the goal area. UNH was able to get gloves on the strike, but junior back Luke Yates buried it into the back of the net for his third score of the season. The Bearcats held UNH to only two off-target shots for the remainder of the period, assisted by two offsides calls against the Wildcats in the final two minutes of play as the foes went into the half tied at 1-1.

“[Set pieces are] something we had talked about,” Marco said. “I thought we were quite good. I would have liked to get more corners … but on set pieces attacking and defending, we were excellent.”

UNH opened the second half of play eager to snatch a lead by rebounding from a run in the 50th minute being called offsides by attempting two consecutive shots, neither of which were on target. Following a yellow card against redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan, UNH went on an offensive tear as it attempted five unanswered shots in the following eight minutes. Stout defending from Binghamton’s back-line and McDermott, however, kept them out of the net.

“We decided our game plan was to try to negate them centrally,” Marco said. “[UNH] helped us by trying to go wide, they are excellent on the flank so we really wanted to try to keep the ball to one side. Once we encouraged them to go wide, we could then keep the ball on that side of the field.”

Binghamton’s offense soon heated up, and Yates, gunning for the brace, attempted his third shot in the 67th minute. Working efficiently with the chances created, Nahim crossed in a ball to the box that redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas sank, lighting up the scoreboard. Eager to hold on to its 2-1 lead, Binghamton shifted into a more defensively-minded formation, holding UNH to just two shots over the final 32 minutes of play while attempting two of their own.

“I think our guys have done a good job of figuring that out — ‘when should I have a go at the goal’ and ‘when should I maybe make one more pass or run with the ball,’” Marco said.

BU will look to stay in the AE playoff hunt on Saturday, Oct. 19 as it continues conference play at UMass Lowell. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I thought we played pretty well tonight,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I thought we played well enough to win the game … We have to minimize the set pieces we’re giving up.”

Both Binghamton (6-5-2, 0-2 AE) and Bucknell (4-4-3, 2-0-2 Patriot League) began the match playing an uncharacteristically high press. Still, it was the hosts who struck first when redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas received the ball in the box and blasted it through the Bucknell net in the second minute. Sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim continued BU’s hawkish game plan less than a minute later, embarking on a deep wingside run with his attempted cross into the box resulting in consecutive threatening corner kicks for BU. Nahim continued Binghamton’s early offensive onslaught in the fifth minute, rattling off a shot inside the box.

“The guys said they wanted to cover more ground in training, ” Marco said. “So I thought I’d let them go and cover more ground.”

The Bisons’ initial offensive strategy was stifled by BU’s high press, forcing them to shift into a style of play hallmarked by deep balls and runs from the wings, but several perfectly timed slide tackles from junior back Rio Onwumere prevented attacks inside the Bearcats’ box, and Bucknell was only able to register its first shot on goal — which was from outside the box — in the 26th minute. Bucknell managed a torrent of four shots in the final three minutes of the half but they were unable to break the deadlock.

“It didn’t feel like they had 15 chances,” Marco said. “We didn’t want to give them any chances within about 16 yards — everything outside the box we were okay with [graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott] dealing with.”

BU opened the second half with a blistering attack as junior forward Lucas Constante gained possession in the final third, maneuvering his way into a one-on-one opportunity, but his chance was stymied when the opposing keeper sprinted out to block his shot. BU dominated play early in the second half and sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey nearly grew his 2023-24 scoring tally to two when he throttled a shot from just outside the box. Soon after, in the 56th, Constante maneuvered past several Bison backs, deep into the box where he was fouled from behind earning BU its first penalty kick opportunity of the year. Constante took the ensuing kick and buried it in the bottom left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

“[After the penalty kick was called], I knew it,” Constante said. “I just went to the ball and I took it into my arms.”

The Bearcats were eager to grow their lead and they nearly did so with further scoring chances from Constante and freshman back Ryan Gillon by the 80th minute. The cake, however, was not worth the candle, as BU’s aggression pushing forward allowed Bucknell to exploit a man-up situation following a rapidly taken free kick from the half-line, and despite McDermott rushing out to stop the attack, an errant shot trickled into the back of the net. BU continued to fight for a win, nearly retaking the lead with a point-blank header from Thomas in the 86th, but they could not find the net, for a 1-1 draw.

“We’re pushing numbers forward trying to get another goal and we get punched in the face with the ball in behind us,” Marco said. “So maybe the guy on the ball immediately steps in front, slows the game down and takes a yellow card for the team.”

BU will look to carry its nonconference success into conference play on Saturday, Oct. 12, as it is set to resume AE play at UNH. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Wildcat Stadium in Durham, New Hampshire.

“I think right now our team is still trying to figure out how we’re dealing with the injury bug that we’ve been bit by,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We picked up another one in the game with [junior back Luke Yates] now being out. He’s day-to-day — he got hit in the head and had to come out at halftime.”

Match play began quietly, with neither team attempting a shot for the first 13 minutes. BU (6-5-1, 0-2 AE), however, was the first to break through when Yates rattled off a shot in the 14th minute of play. Just two minutes later, the Bearcats attacked the net again as senior midfielder Billy Clark attempted his first shot of the night. NJIT (4-5-2, 1-1 AE) swiftly responded with five consecutive shots, two of which were saved by graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott.

“I think we need to continue to be efficient, and we need to be better at our shot selection,” Marco said. “I thought yesterday we took a couple of shots that we probably shouldn’t have. We probably needed one more pass to create a better chance, to create a better scoring opportunity.”

Another cold offensive spell from both squads was highlighted by more physical gameplay, as the next 10 minutes of play saw three yellow cards be issued, two of which were against BU. Seconds later, following an offsides call that stopped an NJIT run, BU pushed across the field and secured its first shot on goal of the night, courtesy of redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas. NJIT responded with a counterpush of its own, which was handily saved by McDermott, and the squads went into halftime tied.

“I think that we are working on minimizing our mistakes,” Marco said. “We’ve made some mistakes in the last three games that have cost us the games. SPEC goals are all of the goals that we’ve conceded, and in the early part of the year we were not leaking SPEC goals so we have to stop conceding those types of goals,” using an acronym for “set pieces, errors and counterattacks.”

The Highlanders were quick to get out of the gate in the second half, securing consecutive corner kicks in the first 65 seconds of play. Although they were unable to convert, after just five minutes they broke the deadlock, taking a 1-0 lead over BU. The Bearcat’s woes continued as NJIT was awarded a penalty kick in the 65th minute, which it converted to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

“Yesterday we made two errors and they scored two goals, and both were set pieces,” Marco said. “So disappointing. And then we scored a very good goal in the run of play, but just disappointing the outcome of yesterday’s game.”

BU, eager to mount a comeback, attacked the Highlanders’ net, with senior back Carlo Cavalar attempting his lone shot of the night in the 80th minute. The Bearcats’ persistence paid off when sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey lit up the scoreboard for his first collegiate goal in the 83rd minute. Despite attempting the lone remaining shot in the match, Binghamton was unable to level the score, dropping its second match of conference play 2-1.

“I think you’ll see a lot of guys get some time in the game,” Marco said. “It’s important that we try to figure out this week who will be available for the next couple of games, and who might take a little bit longer to get back if they can get back.”

The Bearcats will look to get back on track as they take on Bucknell for their final nonconference match on Tuesday, Oct. 8. Kick-off is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I thought we were very good in several moments of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We created a lot of scoring chances but were unlucky at times. We hit the post and had balls cleared off the line.”

UMBC (4-3-2, 1-0 AE) immediately got to work following the kick-off, pushing the ball into BU’s (6-3-1, 0-1 AE) final third. The Bearcats pushed back, quelling the run and launching a counterattack of their own that resulted in a first-minute corner kick chance. It was UMBC, however, who got the first look on goal, netting a shot on goal that was scooped up by graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott.

In the 24th minute of play, the Retrievers attempted their third shot, but McDermott secured the save. Soon after, UMBC gained possession in the final third. McDermott then ran far outside the box to prevent a shot, leaving BU’s net unprotected. However, the Retrievers did not convert. The Bearcats responded with an offensive run, where sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim drove past two UMBC defenders and drilled a shot on the inside that was saved. Overall, the Bearcats were outshot 7-3 and registered five fouls to UMBC’s zero as the half ended at 0-0.

“You feel like you’re being wronged,” Marco said. “Even their coach says the same thing, ‘How did we have no fouls in the first half?’ I don’t think that I’ve ever seen that in all the years I’ve been coaching.”

BU was first to strike in the second half, as redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan attempted a shot on goal in the 47th minute of play that was saved by the Retrievers. BU continued to attack the UMBC goal, and five minutes later, BU had its strongest chance of the match when Egan, yet again, struck at the UMBC net, this time hitting the left woodwork and bouncing off the back of the UMBC keeper. The match’s pace began to slow down until, in the 62nd minute, on a second ball following a free kick, the Retrievers took a 1-0 lead.

“Then we made a couple of mistakes on those two set pieces where we cleared the [initial] ball but didn’t take care of the second ball and that led to the two goals,” Marco said. “Other than that, I thought the guys were pretty good tonight and we will be ready to go on Tuesday.”

Despite BU substituting in a more offensively geared lineup, the Retrievers rattled off two more shots in the next seven minutes. Binghamton attempted to even the match, courtesy of a second shot on goal from Nahim, but once more, the shot ended up in UMBC gloves. The Retrievers targeted the net twice more, necessitating another diving save from McDermott. In the 81st minute, a second goal from UMBC — which came from a second chance following a free kick — cemented the lead that the Retrievers would carry to the end of the game, as BU opened its AE slate with a 2-0 loss.

“We don’t ‘bounce back,’” Marco said. “We move forward.”

The Bearcats will look to get back on track as they hit the road to take on Cornell for their penultimate nonconference match on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Charles F. Berman Field in Ithaca, New York.

On Saturday afternoon, the Binghamton men’s soccer team extended its winning streak to four by defeating the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils 2-1, securing the program’s longest winning streak since 2007. The Bearcats were first to find the net, but the Blue Devils responded late in the first half to tie the game 1-1. BU struck back, taking a 2-1 lead that it would hold onto for the remainder of the game despite having to play a man down following a red card in the 63rd minute.

“I mean obviously you’re delighted with the outcome of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I thought we started well, and then it kinda just unraveled from there … But then we got the game-winner, and I was very happy with that.”

Binghamton (6-2-1) was quick to attack the Blue Devils’ (0-7-1) goal, where sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo and senior midfielder Billy Clark each attempted headers in the opponent’s box within the first eight minutes of play. Just four minutes later, sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim went on a deep run on the left wing, creeping by to deliver a pass into the box for Randazzo, who buried the shot in the back of the net for his team-leading fourth goal of the year. This lead wouldn’t hold for long, as in the 38th minute, going on a run inside the BU box, Central Connecticut State got one past graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott, evening the score. Neither squad found the back of the net for the rest of the half, going into the half knotted at 1-1.

“I think we were really good in some moments, and off it in some,” Marco said. “We need to be more consistent in winning our duels in [one-on-one] defending.”

BU opened the second half by forcing three consecutive corner kicks in the first eight minutes, and nearly scoring twice. The Blue Devils almost took the lead three minutes later, but a diving grab from McDermott maintained the draw. Yet again, Binghamton’s offensive persistence paid off. In the 56th minute, BU’s next attacking run saw Nahim connect with graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen for his second assist of the night. Four minutes later, Binghamton had an opportunity to build its lead to two when Randazzo surged past the last Blue Devils defender, but a foul inches outside of the box stopped his run, and BU could not convert on the ensuing free kick.

“For the first couple of minutes [following the red card], you just go into survival mode,” Marco said. “You’ve got to figure it out. I felt like if they were going to get a goal, it was going to come from a wide delivery into the box … We knew they were going to have to try to get behind us so we dropped the line a bit, and I thought the guys did well with it.”

In the 62nd minute, the Blue Devil goalkeeper ran far outside of the box in an attempt to clear a long lob from McDermott, leaving his net defenseless, and Cohen booted a shot from the halfway line that almost became his second goal of the night. The Bearcats’ near-goal opportunities became more important when in the 63rd minute senior back Charlie Kaldor received his second yellow card of the night, leaving Binghamton to play a man down for the rest of the match. The Bearcats shifted into a defense-prioritizing formation with most of their midfielders dropping back while maintaining their runs into the opponent’s half. BU held on until the final whistle blew, securing the 2-1 victory.

“I think we’re on the right track,” Marco said. “We need to be much more disciplined with everything on the field. Off the field, the guys are excellent. I mean it’s a terrific group of guys — they look out for each other, they give good reminders, they reprimand when it’s off the field.”

Binghamton will look to continue its strong start to the season in its opening game of America East play against UMBC on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I thought the guys were terrific,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I thought we played really well in both periods of the game. When we had the ball we were quite forceful going forward. When they had it, we were pretty patient in choosing when to press and when not to press. I thought the guys were very, very good. They stuck to the game plan, and we scored three good goals in the second half.”

Binghamton (5-2-1) nearly opened the scoring in the third minute with a deep lob into the box, but it was snatched by the opposing keeper. Seconds later, a BU counterattack saw sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo possess the ball in the opponent’s box, but a late slide killed the possession. It was, however, Saint Peter’s (0-6-1) who got the first chance on goal when a counterattack in the seventh minute gave them a look at BU’s goal that they were unable to convert on.

“I got to rest guys, so we played two different lines up front,” Marco said. “Minimizing how much time guys were playing allowed them to put more work and energy in when they were playing.”

Binghamton’s first shot opportunity of the match came in the 18th minute when Randazzo tapped a long ball into the box toward the Peacocks’ keeper. The Bearcats’ combination of high-press offense and long balls from the back four began to pay off, as they went on the rattle of three more unanswered shots in the next eight minutes. The foes went on to trade shots for the rest of the period, but neither squad was able to break the deadlock, as the match went into the half tied at 0-0.

“It was a match that we thought we were going to have to change the way that we wanted to play, due to the surface and the conditions,” Marco said. “It’s a grass field, it’s a little longer grass, the ball doesn’t roll a lot of divots, and it’s a narrow field. So we did change the shape of the group, we were a little more direct in the first half.”

BU opened the second half eager to find the back of the Peacocks’ net, and they quickly opened the scoring in the 48th minute. Following a corner kick chance, they attempted several shots, and eventually, a header from graduate student back Chris Comber found its way in. The Bearcats’ success on set pieces continued in the second half, when redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan headed the ball following a deflected shot off of the Saint Peter’s keeper for his first collegiate goal, giving BU a comfortable 2-0 lead.

“We want to improve in small group combination play in the attacking half of the field,” Marco said. “We’d like to have a better awareness and understanding of our response and our response to things.”

The Bearcats back four continued to attack the ball stopping several attempted counterattacks. BU’s offensive persistence continued to pay off, as Randazzo lit up the scoreboard in the 65th minute for his team-leading third goal of the season. The Bearcats continued to attack the opponents’ goal with deep balls into the final third, but the Peacocks were able to hold them to three, and the game seemingly drew toward a close. Despite their strong performance as a defensive unit, with 16 seconds remaining in the match, BU conceded a penalty and the Peacocks were finally able to get one past graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott.

“The third goal was very, very good soccer,” Marco said. “[Freshman forward DT Megliola] picks the ball up, there’s combination play between [Megliola] and junior forward Lucas Constante, and then [Constante] drives with the ball and plays a ball in behind for [Randazzo] to run onto and finish. [Randazzo] two weeks ago, would have tried to come back onto his right foot, and this time he just smashes it with his left.”

Binghamton will look to surpass its 2023-24 campaign win total against Central Connecticut State University on Saturday, Sept. 21. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

Coming off a 1-0 win in the first of a three-game road stretch, the Binghamton men’s soccer team continued its hot streak by rallying for a 2-1 victory at Iona on Saturday afternoon. BU struggled offensively in the first half with zero total shots as they trailed 1-0 but jumpstarted its offense with 10 shots in the second half to capture their first comeback win of the year — scoring the game-winning goal with only 37 seconds left in the match.

“I think maybe in the first half we were a little timid,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Maybe we gave them a little too much time on the ball [and] couldn’t really get a rhythm going. The tempo of the game wasn’t what we wanted. We changed the shape of the team, and had some higher starting positions in the second half and the guys embraced it.”

Iona’s (1-3-2) defense quickly shut down the Binghamton (4-3-1) attack, while its midfield controlled the possession game early in the match. Iona was first to register an offensive chance, getting off a shot from a corner kick opportunity in the fifth minute. The Gaels, despite dominating the offensive game, struggled to create scoring opportunities. By the 18th minute, they already had three offensive runs shut down by offside calls. Their scoring woes were quick to end, however, as they got on the board in the 21st minute.

“We moved from a 4-4-2 [formation to a 4-2-3-1 formation],” Marco said. “We tried to be a little bit more direct. We were good on the counterattack in the first half, we had the goal get called back for an office. There were five

reviews in the game and all five went against us, which is a bit unlucky.”

The Gaels regained possession off the BU kickoff, and a minute later, they rattled off another shot attempt. The Bearcats made three substitutions in the next minute, but they continued to struggle with Iona’s counterattack, allowing another shot attempt in the 23rd minute. Iona’s inability to stay onside continued to plague the Gaels, as they had three more attacking opportunities called back by the end of the half.

The Bearcats flipped the script on the Gaels in the second half of play, quickly creating a goal-scoring opportunity that ended with a shot on goal by graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen. BU continued its offensive pressure with sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim getting off his only shot of the night in the 51st minute. The next 25 minutes of play saw both squads trading shots, with the Gaels and Bearcats rattling off four attempts each. Both squads’ defenses, however, stood strong, keeping the game locked at 1-0.

“I mean it was absolutely a terrific second-half performance from our guys,” Marco said. “We were pretty good in the first half but in the second half our guys were outstanding. Two really good goals. One of them was spectacular, perhaps the goal of the season.”

In the 80th minute, the tide began to turn in Binghamton’s favor as they were awarded a needed corner kick. Iona’s defense headed the cross out to the edge of the box and toward the feet of freshman forward DT Megliola, whose ensuing shot bounced off the leg of an Iona defender and toward redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas, who flicked the ball past the Iona goalkeeper with his back to the net for the game-tying goal. In the final minute of play, Thomas controlled a lob from senior back Carlo Cavalar, one-touch passed it to the feet of junior back Luke Yates, who blasted it into the upper left corner for his second game-winning goal of the season. When the final whistle blew, the Bearcats came out on top 2-1.

“I think that the guys now have a belief that’s ‘let’s play until the last minute of the game because maybe we can get a goal at the last minute,’” Marco said. “We’ve now scored four late goals to get wins, so the belief is very high in the team in the second half.”

Binghamton will look to tie its 2023-24 campaign win-total at Saint Peter’s University on Tuesday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Joseph J. Jaroschak Field in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“Going into the game I thought it was going to be a very good competitive college game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Maybe it exceeded it a bit. I think the game was really good … I really like our group, we’re getting better every training session. We walk off the field saying, ‘Yeah, we’re getting better today.’”

Lafayette (2-1-2) was quick to get out of the gate in the first half, nearly scoring in the second minute of play, but the shot bounced off the left post. They continued to apply offensive pressure, rattling off four more unanswered shots by the eighth minute. The two foes then traded possessions for the next seven minutes, both struggling to create meaningful offensive chances. In the 16th minute, however, Binghamton (3-3-1) began to attack the goal, securing three straight corner kicks, before graduate student back Chris Comber registered the game’s first shot on goal.

“I was very pleased with us on set pieces, attacking and defending,” Marco said. “We’ve been very good on defending corners. We’ve been very good on attacking corners.”

The momentum continued to persist in Binghamton’s favor, as disciplined defense shut down several attempted counterattacks. In the 26th minute, BU registered its second shot on goal, courtesy of junior back Luke Yates. In the final nine minutes of the second half, Lafayette attempted five consecutive corner kicks, but they were unable to break through the Bearcats’ defense, as the match remained scoreless.

‘In the Colgate game, we had two good chances on set pieces that we didn’t capitalize on,” Marco said. “Then against Lafayette, we had two really good chances again and we got a goal from one of them.”

The Leopards opened play again, getting a corner-kick opportunity just 68 seconds into the second half. BU quickly responded, with two offensive possessions ending in corner kicks. In the 63rd minute, Lafayette nearly managed to create a 1-1 opportunity, but a last-second hustle play from senior back Charlie Kaldor shut it down. BU nearly created a chance of their own, when Lafayette deflected a close-up shot from junior forward Lucas Constante.

“The compactness of the team has been excellent,” Marco said. “Everybody is playing their part defensively. I thought yesterday [senior back Carlo Cavalar] and [redshirt junior midfielder Sean Fitzgerald] were outstanding, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen them play. They covered ground, they put in tackles, they were efficient with the ball and they were excellent. And I think our two center backs [Comber] and [Yates] have been very good.”

The second portion of the second half saw BU take an aggressive offensive approach, and shots from Cavalar and Kaldor nearly saw them take the lead. With 7:04 left to play Binghamton was awarded its ninth corner kick of the match, and the ball was lobbed into the center of the box. Twenty-five seconds later, among the confusion, Comber came out with the ball and he buried it in the back of the net, for his first career Binghamton goal. The Bearcats held on for the remainder of the match, coming out with a 1-0 victory.

“I think we’ve got really good resilience,” Marco said. “The group can really figure things out, and they’re improving as the match goes on, and I think that our grit is pretty good.”

Binghamton will compete against Iona University on Saturday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Mazzella Field in New Rochelle, New York.

“We have to be kind of pleased that we got a draw out of the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “To lose a guy and have to hang on while short numbered [is hard], but I felt there in the game, we probably should get a result [and]we should probably get three points out of the game.”

Binghamton (2-2-1) despite not creating any significant offensive threats early in the match, was able to slow down play and dominate the possession game against Colgate (2-2-1). In the 17th minute, graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen got off the first shot of the match, but it went over the net. Both teams then traded shots, but neither one made its way into the back of the net as the match remained scoreless.

“Overall good performance,” Marco said. “The guys were very competitive [and] showed good poise. The game plan was good — we just needed a little better execution, and then the silliness to concede the goal the way that we did is just silliness. We have to stop the silliness.”

The Raiders struggled to maintain possession throughout the first half, but they found success with counterattacks on the wing, with one in the 23rd minute leading to an opportunity in the box, but graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott’s quick reflexes netted him his first save of the night. The Bearcats quickly went on the offensive, netting three straight shots in the next four minutes of play, including a shot on goal by Cohen. BU outshot Colgate 5-2 in the first period, as they went into the half tied at 0-0.

“I thought we were good,” Marco said. “I thought we were good in all aspects of defending. I felt like Colgate’s a good team — I mean they go to Virginia and get a result — that’s very good. I thought that the two outside backs were really tested today … Maybe ball-side defending today needed to be a bit better.”

Colgate was quick to get out of the gate in the second half, getting off a shot on goal in the 52nd minute, but quick reflexes from McDermott yet again kept the game scoreless. BU nearly opened the scoring as a shot from junior forward Lucas Constante nearly found the back of the net, his shot just narrowly going left. The tides began to shift in the Raiders’ favor, and they went on a 3-1 shooting run by the 68th minute, and once again McDermott and the back four kept them out of the net.

“I’m trying to read his touch,” McDermott said. “If I could come out or not. He took a good touch, there was no pressure on the ball. All I could do was set, make myself as big as possible, and try to make a save, and luckily he didn’t place it well and I was able to make a save and keep it zero-zero that time.”

The Raiders broke through in the 74th minute, as BU trailed 1-0. The Bearcats, however, were quick to respond, tying the match at one-all thanks to a strike from Cohen. Redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan lobbed a through ball from behind the centerline, which Cohen controlled, he cut into the box and rallied off a shot that bounced off the leg of a Colgate defender, lighting up the scoreboard for Binghamton. After back-and-forth possessions by the opposing teams, Egan was given a red card for a defensive foul, and the Bearcats were down to 10 men for the remainder of play. The Bearcats managed to hold on until the final whistle blew, drawing against Colgate 1-1.

“Obviously, it’s a great feeling to score,” Cohen said. “Unfortunately it didn’t help to win the game, very unfortunate we knew that Colgate would come here and try to compete and give us some hard time, but I believe and think that we were on top of the game from the first half. Unfortunately, we ended up with the tie.”

Binghamton will face off against Lafayette College on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Gummeson Grounds in Easton, Pennsylvania.

“I thought we were quite good in the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I mean it’s against a nationally ranked opponent, [so] they were very competitive. I thought our guys were very good on the night.”

The first half of play opened with little action as Hofstra (3-0-1) could not create an offensive chance off a corner in the sixth minute. Binghamton (2-2-0) got its first major offensive opportunity with a corner kick in the 11th minute, but they could not convert the chance. Sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim secured Binghamton’s first shot of the night in minute 18, but it went wide to the right. Soon after, in the 25th minute, senior defender Carlo Cavalar found sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo in the back left corner of the box, and he buried the ball in the back right of the net, giving BU a 1-0 lead.

“We started the game well,” Marco said. “We scored a goal, and we’re winning 1-0. I don’t feel like we did very well in weak-side defending. That was a struggle for us, and them — that’s how we scored a goal as well — but overall I thought our guys did very well in the game.”

Just two minutes later in the 28th minute, Hofstra found the back of the net to tie the match at one-all. Both teams traded possessions before Hofstra was awarded its first of two penalty kicks for the night in the 31st minute. Graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott reached down at the last moment blocking Hofstra’s penalty. Hofstra regained possession, but their next shot attempt bounced off the left post, maintaining the deadlock. BU struggled to create offensive chances through the remainder of first-half play, as they were outshot 3-0 by the Pride.

“I thought [Randazzo] was outstanding,” Marco said. “It was certainly perhaps his best performance, including getting the two goals. Probably his best performance as a Bearcat.”

Hofstra began the second half by creating offensive pressure, getting their first shot of the half off in the 49th minute. Hofstra’s next shot proceeded to find the back of the net in the 56th minute, giving them a 2-1 lead over the Bearcats. The Pride continued to attack, winning a corner kick just minutes later and following it up with two more shots on the Binghamton goal. The Bearcats, however, wouldn’t give in, as an assist from senior midfielder Billy Clark led to Randazzo heading the ball behind Hoftsra’s keeper for his first-collegiate brace in the 62nd minute.

“I thought [McDermott] has been playing very well all year,” Marco said. “I’m really gutted for [McDermott] that we’ve leaked some goals in the last two games, and he’s playing well enough that we shouldn’t be leaking some of these goals, but what a great save on the penalty.”

With the score tied at two-all, Hofstra kept pushing to retake the lead, rattling off four unanswered shots. Hofstra’s offensive onslaught eventually proved too much for Binghamton to handle, as the hosts were awarded a penalty kick in the 72nd minute. McDermott was unable to get the save on Hofstra’s second penalty, leaving the Bearcats trailing behind 3-2. This score would remain the rest of the way with the Bearcats not managing another shot attempt for the remainder of the match, as they fell to Hofstra 3-2.

“I’d like our guys to be a little more resilient,” Marco said. “We had to leave two guys home that are usually in the starting group because they were sick … let’s try to look after ourselves a little better, and be available for games.”

Binghamton will look to break its losing streak back at home as it hosts Colgate University on Friday, Sept. 6. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

The Binghamton men’s soccer team continued its 2024 season Wednesday night with a 3-0 loss against William & Mary. The Bearcats struggled in the first half, as they were unable to find the back of the net, while William & Mary managed to put three past them. The Bearcats’ offensive struggles continued in the second half, as they were held scoreless, cementing a 3-0 win for William & Mary.

“Super disappointed,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We started the game very, very well. They came across midfield into our end probably twice in the first 15-18 minutes and have a goal. So that’s disappointing.”

Binghamton (2-1-0) quickly found themselves trailing the Tribe (1-0-0), who took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of play. Just two minutes later, BU nearly netted an equalizer when a shot from sophomore attacker/midfielder Marcus Nahim nearly went in, bouncing off the top of the post. The next stretch of play saw the foes trade several shot attempts, with the tally tied up at four shots a piece by minute 29.

“It’s not like we’re not getting opportunities,” Marco said. “We were getting opportunities and [William & Mary] hit the target, scored goals and we didn’t. I think that needs to be addressed at the individual level.”

William & Mary, however, was next to find the back of the net for the second time in the 30th minute, to take a 2-0 lead. The Bearcats’ woes continued late in the first half of play, as the Tribe scored its third goal of the night in the 40th minute. Binghamton was unable to string together a significant offensive performance and they were outshot 5-0 for the remainder of the period. The Bearcats went into the half facing a three goal deficit.

“I thought we started the game better today,” Marco said. “I felt like we were in control of the game. We were on top of the game, our tempo was pretty good, positioning was pretty good. If we look at the opportunities in the game, some of the opportunities we had, we just didn’t capitalize on them and they capitalized on everything they got.”

The Bearcats opened the second half with increased offensive aggression, along with an increase in possession in the opponent’s half. Graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen and redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan each had a shot on goal a piece, and Nahim attempted his third shot of the night, but the Bearcats were unable to put one between the sticks.

“Let them suffer a little bit more,” Marco said. “I felt like there were moments we really had to be a little grittier, and we weren’t great on 50/50 balls, and first and second balls. That’ll have to be a focus for us on Monday.”

BU’s offensive struggles continued late in the second half despite its continued efforts in the final third. Binghamton maintained its offensive efforts, but both of the home team’s shot attempts throughout the remainder of play went high. Despite outshooting the Tribe 4-0 in the second half, the Bearcats were unable to mount a comeback as they fell 3-0.

“Hofstra will be a good game,” Marco said. “We’ve got some days off to rest a little bit. Maybe we get some guys back by injury, but overall extremely disappointed. I did not expect that after the start of the game, I would not have expected the outcome that we got.”

Binghamton will face Hofstra University on Monday, Sept. 2. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Hofstra Soccer Stadium in Hempstead, New York.

“I thought that both games — the Thursday game and today — we have continued to improve as the game went on,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We’re starting maybe a little too slow … That’s something that we have addressed, and we’re trying to get better at it, but today we weren’t much better at that.”

Binghamton (2-0-0) began its season with a trip to Mount St. Mary’s (0-1-0) on Thursday night, and they were the first to secure a shot in the match. The foes traded shots throughout a scoreless half, and BU went into the break with a 6-5 lead on shots.

“I thought we played pretty well tonight,” Marco said. “[Senior midfielder Billy Clark] was our MVP of the match. He covered a lot of ground and had a great start to his senior year. I also thought we were very well organized in the backfield.”

The second half of play saw BU increase the offensive pressure as the Bearcats outshot the Mountaineers 8-1. In the 83rd minute of play, after not converting on their first two corner opportunities, Clark sent a deep ball toward the back corner of the box, which junior defender Luke Yates headed into the back of the net for his first collegiate goal. The Bearcats held on to their lead, securing a 1-0 victory for their season opener.

“Nobody ever had the opportunity to get any open shots to [graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott], and even if they did I know we got a goalkeeper in the back that’s gonna save all of them,” said senior defender Carlo Cavalar. “With that confidence, you’re always going to defend a lot harder.”

Coming off a last-minute winner in their season opener, the Bearcats looked to build a 2-0 record with a win against Le Moyne on Sunday afternoon. BU opened the match with immediate energy, pressing high when given the opportunity and swinging the ball out to the wings several times early in the match. The Bearcats were able to add offensive pressure on set pieces, but the final 10 minutes of the half saw play slow down as both squads struggled to possess the ball in their respective final thirds.

“I mean [sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim] could jump over this building if he wanted to,” Marco said. “So why not let [Nahim] run? … He’s a guy that [we can] isolate him and let him do his thing.”

Binghamton continued where it left off offensively, setting up two corner kicks and two shots in the first 10 minutes of play. Both squads, however, struggled to finish their chances, and the Bearcats’ back four were able to stymie Le Moyne’s chances with efficient tackling. In the 83rd minute of play, Nahim maneuvered past his man and sent a cross into the box, where it deflected off the legs of a Le Moyne defender and straight to the feet of senior defender Charlie Kaldor, who buried the ball in the back left corner. BU held on to their 1-0 lead, securing a 2-0 record and its second shutout of the year.

“We talked about it at half where we wanted to combine with me and Marcus out wide,” Kaldor said. “You could see moments of it coming out, and eventually, we got it down the line and worked through it, and it just fell to me. [There was] not much thought, I just kind of hit it.”

Binghamton will continue its home stand this Wednesday, Aug. 28 against William & Mary. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

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.”

As the final whistle sounded in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday night, history had repeated itself for the Binghamton men’s soccer team as it was able to knock off UMBC for the second straight year — in a 1-0 match — to advance to America East (AE) semifinals. The game was tight for the majority of the duration, but a strong defensive effort and a late goal from BU secured a 1-0 win for the Bearcats.

“I thought the first half was our best performance for 45 minutes all year,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I thought the guys were outstanding.”

Binghamton (5-9-3, 3-2-3 AE) and the Retrievers (7-4-5, 3-2-3 AE) opened up the match in a deadlock. Each side had their chances in the first 10 minutes, but neither were able to capitalize. BU was able to gain an edge, having more possession and the closest chance at a goal during the early period of the match. In the eighth minute, the Bearcats found themselves in a footrace with the UMBC goalkeeper for a ball loose in UMBC’s defensive end. Ultimately, the UMBC goalkeeper would get to the ball first and the match would remain scoreless.

The Retrievers would have their own chance at BU’s graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott in the 12th minute. McDermott came out of his box to attempt to get a Retriever pass out of danger, narrowly avoiding a charging UMBC forward to clear the ball away. UMBC would build on its momentum in the middle of the half, maintaining possession near Binghamton’s goal and having several chances to get on the board.

“I think both of our goalkeepers have been really good in the last three to four weeks,” Marco said. “They just have been working really hard. Today’s performance was a culmination of the hard work those two guys have been putting in.”

The Bearcats regained some of their lost momentum toward the end of the half, but their efforts produced little result, as the halftime whistle sounded with the score tied at zero. Team defense was the story of the first half for both sides as both Binghamton and UMBC’s defensive fronts held strong, limiting opposing chances and keeping their respective teams in the match.

The second half would start similarly to the first, with both teams playing strong defense, being locked in a battle for possession. UMBC would get their best chance yet in the 48th minute when a Retriever forward brought the ball into Binghamton’s penalty box, drawing a foul and earning a penalty shot. Luckily for the Bearcats, McDermott made a save to keep the ball out of the back of the net, keeping UMBC off the board.

The Retrievers continued to apply pressure for much of the rest of the half while BU’s efforts to get on the board persisted. In the 78th minute, the Bearcats were able to finally cash in. Redshirt senior midfielder Anthony Lazaridis brought the ball into UMBC’s half of the field and shot a long pass through multiple Retriever defenders and junior midfielder Billy Clark, which made its way to senior midfielder Markos Touroukis. Touroukis was able to gain possession and put a shot on the net, sending it past the keeper to put the Bearcats up 1-0.

“The best part of the goal outside of the finish is the dummy that [Clark] does,” Marco said. “The ball is played to [Clark], and he lets it run through to [Touroukis] and he hits it first time. It was a great goal. It was one of the best goals we’ve scored all year. The awareness [Clark] had to let the ball run past him was outstanding. He should get the assist just as well as [Lazaridis]. I’m just really proud of the guys.”

UMBC lost most of their remaining momentum after the Binghamton goal, managing only sparse chances going into the final minute. UMBC fought to the end, though, nearly scoring twice in the final 10 seconds off of a last-minute corner kick. Ultimately, the Bearcats were able to keep the ball out of the back of their net to earn a 1-0 victory and punch their ticket to the next round of the AE tournament.

“When we played Bryant the first time and got beat really badly we didn’t have some of our players who are currently playing, and we weren’t playing with the swagger we are right now,” Marco said. “Bryant has one loss on the season. They’re a great team, [so] we’ll have to be on our game for 90 minutes. I can’t wait to take that bus ride there. This team is ready to play.”

Binghamton is set to play No. 2 Bryant in an AE semi-final matchup on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

After a 5-0 loss against No. 24 Bryant at home on senior day, the Binghamton men’s soccer team hit the road for its last regular season matchup of the season against UMBC, ultimately settling for a 2-2 draw. After both UMBC and BU scored in the first half of the contest, a late-game goal from the Retrievers would give them a lead, but Binghamton was able to find the equalizer as the contest ended in a tie. With Tuesday night’s draw, BU clinched the No. 6 seed in the America East (AE) tournament.

“The goal is to get to the playoffs, right, so we make playoffs, we’re in [the] postseason,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “I think that for us, is you know, something that we’ve been striving for. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday, just now, it’s you try to win and advance.”

UMBC (7-3-5, 3-1-3 AE) got a shot off early into the match, looking to get on the board first. Despite this attempt, it would be Binghamton (4-9-3, 2-2-3 AE) that scored the game’s first goal. In the fifth minute, redshirt senior midfielder Anthony Lazaridis broke away from the UMBC defense and found the back of the net to give Binghamton a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, Lazaridis would again manage to get a shot off but couldn’t convert it into another goal for BU.

The Retrievers now looked to even the score and get a goal for themselves. UMBC outshot BU 14 to two throughout the half, but for most of the period, the home team was unable to get the score they were looking for. This all changed in the 43rd minute when UMBC capitalized on an opportunity to tie the game going into halftime with the ball making its way passed graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott’s hands and into the back of the net. The Bearcats and Retrievers entered the half with the score knotted up at 1-1.

“Any other teams that we play in the conference, they’re all very good,” Marco said. “We have a wonderful conference this year. It’s one of the best conferences in the country so anybody that we play is going to be difficult.”

As the second half of play commenced, both sides looked to break the tie and take the lead. Both teams fought for the ball and looked to create opportunities. In the 52nd minute, The Retrievers got a shot off, that went out top. The Bearcats responded with a shot of their own three minutes later, but it went out top right. In the second half, Binghamton was able to spend more time on offense and created more opportunities than they had in the first. The Bearcats got off five shots throughout the entirety of the second half while holding the Retrievers to just six shots in the half.

The half went on with both teams exchanging the ball and looking for a goal. Neither team could find the back of the net until the final 10 minutes of the contest. In the 82nd minute, the Retrievers found the back of the net to take a 2-1 lead with only eight minutes left in the match. This didn’t deter the Bearcats, as they fought hard to find the equalizer. Two minutes after giving up a goal, BU had a throw-in that found multiple players before finding senior midfielder Markos Touroukis, who shot the ball and scored to tie the score at 2-2 with five minutes remaining.

“I thought we scored two good goals,” Marco said. “One was from pure effort and one was from class. I’m very delighted with how we played and looking forward to playing again on Saturday.”

Although the game was almost over, both teams still looked for a game-winning goal in the final minutes. Both BU and UMBC tried to create opportunities and it was the Retrievers who got the last shot of the game. McDermott made the save to keep UMBC off the board as the game concluded in a 2-2 tie. With the tie, Binghamton clinched the No. 6 seed in the AE tournament and will face No. 3 UMBC in the AE quarterfinals for the second year in a row.

“If the [playoff] game gets tied, we go to penalty kicks, [and] we’ve been working on those for the last month,” Marco said. “I feel like the guys will be prepared for that, so if the game ends like it did today, then we’re going to go to penalty kicks, so we’ll have to be ready for that.”

BU will hit the road and return to UMBC, to take on the Retrievers in the AE quarterfinals on Saturday, Nov. 4. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.

Coming off a 2-1 win against UMass Lowell, Binghamton men’s soccer played its second to last game of America East (AE) conference play against No. 25 Bryant for their annual senior night game on Friday, dropping the contest 5-0. After giving up three goals in the first half, BU conceded two more goals in the second half of the match and the Bulldogs won the contest 5-0.

“Every year, we, Binghamton University, attract such [great people],” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “[Who] the guys are and how they interact in the relationships they build with not just [their] teammates, but with the staff and with the administration. It is sad to see guys graduate and move on, very happy and proud for them because they go on to do great things in life, some of them will take the world on.”

The first half started with an early attempt from Binghamton (4-9-2, 2-2-2 AE) as they looked to get on the board early into the game. Although the Bearcats spent the first few minutes on offense looking for an opportunity to find the back of the net, it was Bryant (13-1-2, 3-1-2 AE) who would get the first goal. In the fifth minute of the game, Bryant took possession of the ball from BU and scored to go up 1-0.

The Bearcats would regroup and look for the chance to get a goal for themselves. Senior midfielder Markos Touroukis and graduate student midfielder Jack Green both took shots in the span of six minutes to even the score. The Bulldogs’ goalkeeper prevented that from happening and the score stayed at 1-0. In the 13th minute, Bryant capitalized on an opportunity where they had a breakaway and scored to take a two-goal advantage.

“There were moments in the game where we have chances to get goals and [if] we don’t get goals, their guys would have scored those goals,” Marco said. “So I guess that’s the biggest difference we create — two great chances, and they get goals that were probably harder than the chances we created.”

As both Binghamton and Bryant fought for the ball, it was the Bulldogs who would dominate the half. The Bearcats had several opportunities to find the back of the net but just could not find a way to finish. Once possession was turned back to Bryant, the Bulldogs scored once again. BU entered halftime down three goals.

“When the game went 3-0, I took our defender and moved [Bush] up front to try to and get a goal back,” Marco said. “It doesn’t matter if we lose five goals or three goals it’s still [a] loss, so for us it doesn’t matter.”

Going into the second half the Bearcats looked to make a comeback. Possession fluctuated between the two teams, with tension running high as they both looked for an opportunity to shoot the ball. The first shot would come from the Bulldogs, but sophomore goalkeeper Jack Root, made a save to prevent a 4-0 deficit.

“To start the second half off we talked about trying to get goals back,” Marco said. “We were going to move [Bush] and that put us [in a] vulnerable [spot] to concede a goal again. Disappointed in the one goal we conceded, but the other one is directly a result of us moving [Bush] up front.”

For the majority of the half, the two teams exchanged the ball as it went up and down the field. The Bearcats would fight hard to try and get on the board. In the 76th and 78th minutes of the game, however, Bryant would score two more goals. Despite the game almost at an end, BU would still look to get on the board, but was unable to break through, and the game ended 5-0, in favor of the Bulldogs.

“I think that in a match like tonight, it’s a difficult one,” Marco said. “We give up two errors for the first two goals and we just wet the bed so badly. I just didn’t expect that from our guys the way we had been playing.”

BU will hit the road once again to take on UMBC on Tuesday, Oct 31. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.

Coming off two losses at home, the Binghamton men’s soccer team took on UMass Lowell and got back in the win column, earning a 2-1 victory on the road. After a rainy and scoreless first half, the River Hawks got on the board early in the second half. However, BU secured the victory after scoring two goals in the span of three minutes to take the contest despite the game’s poor weather conditions.

“Of course, we took [the weather] into account,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We trained in a wet surface the night before, so I thought the guys handled the conditions quite well.”

UMass Lowell [2-9-3, 0-5-0 America East (AE)] opened up the game four seconds into the half with an immediate shot, that went out top left. Not long after, Binghamton (4-8-2, 2-1-2 AE) responded with two shots of its own in the span of 22 seconds, but both were stopped by the River Hawks’ goalkeeper.

UMass Lowell only had one more attempted shot in the first half, which came in the 31st minute but the River Hawks failed to find the back of the net. Meanwhile, the Bearcats controlled the first half with 13 shots, including six that would find their way to the net. Despite all of Binghamton’s attempts and its 13-2 shot advantage, the game remained scoreless going into halftime.

“I thought we were extremely good in the first half,” Marco said. “We just didn’t have a goal to show for how well we were playing, and you know you go in and then the guys come back out and how they start the second half sometimes is a reflection on the first half sometimes it isn’t.”

As the weather conditions worsened, both teams looked to get on the board early on in the second half. In the 50th minute, the River Hawks took advantage of mistaken positioning by the Bearcats’ defense and found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead over the Bearcats. Although the River Hawks only attempted two shots in the first half, UMass Lowell was able to put more pressure on Binghamton’s goal, holding a 9-8 shot advantage in the second half.

“In this case, I thought we were still quite good in the second half and then to go down a goal just by miss positioning on our part,” Marco said. “We kind of got a little bit maybe overly confident that we could deal with them, and we weren’t as touch tight.”

Despite the pressure from UMass Lowell, the Bearcats’ offensive and defensive lines would work together to even the score and keep the River Hawks off the board. Just nine minutes after the River Hawks’ goal, a free kick pass from graduate student back Devin Heanue found senior back Will Noecker — who tipped in the ball to tie the game at one.

“We were on top of the game attacking so much we then were letting our defensive shape slip a little bit,” Marco said. “But after their goal, I thought we then really started to push we got another goal back right away.”

Two minutes after BU’s first goal, freshman forward Anthony Randazzo got off a shot, looking to give Binghamton the lead, but it was stopped by the River Hawks’ goalkeeper. However, the Bearcats did not stop attacking the UMass Lowell goal. Just a few seconds later, in the 62nd minute, redshirt freshman back Cailen Thomas scored the eventual game-winning goal, giving BU a 2-1 lead.

“We get the winner shortly after it,” Marco said. “And then continue to try to get more goals which was great to see.”

After taking the lead, the Bearcats’ defense continued to work to keep UMass Lowell from finding the equalizer. Even after the River Hawks picked up their pace of play, Binghamton maintained its advantage for the rest of the game to secure a 2-1 win on the road, while also being awarded three points in the AE standings.

“We’ve been talking about needing three points in this game to stay alive for playoffs and to try to continue to extend our season,” Marco said. “I thought the guys were outstanding, I mean what a great team performance yesterday [with the] conditions, the opponent [and] everything. Our guys just continue to work hard and improve through the game.”

BU will return home to continue AE conference play against Bryant on Friday, Oct 27. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

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.

Coming off a comeback 3-1 win against Albany last week, Binghamton suffered its first loss of America East (AE) play on Saturday in a 5-0 defeat to No. 22 Vermont during BU’s homecoming weekend. Despite only letting up one goal to the Catamounts in the first half, the Bearcats were unable to match the speed and aggressiveness of the nationally-ranked Catamounts, allowing four goals within a 15-minute timespan in the second half en route to a 5-0 loss.

“Vermont was excellent in the game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “What’s most disappointing for us is that at halftime our conversations were about things that were going well for us in the first half. I felt like we were pretty good throughout the first period. We had a great chance to go up 1-0 and we missed the target, a free header. And then the goal we conceded in the first half was disappointing, it’s our goal kick, we just should do better in that moment.”

The match began with both Binghamton (3-7-2, 1-1-2 AE) and Vermont (9-2-2, 3-1-0 AE) jockeying for possession of the ball. The Catamounts would win the possession battle after creating and exploiting BU turnovers. At numerous points in the first half, the Bearcats attempted to break into an attack, only for their effort to be stymied and turned over by the Catamounts.

“[Vermont is] terrific in the air,” Marco said. “They have three or four players that are giants in the air. They were fast, their anticipation was really good [and] they always seemed to be on the front foot. And we caused a lot of our own mistakes by not having good starting positions. There’s only a 15-minute span where we just really struggled to deal with the amount of pressure they were applying and to handle the chaos at the moment. We weren’t up for that challenge.”

The Catamounts had several chances in the first 10 minutes and managed to break through in the 13th minute. Vermont took possession of a Binghamton goal kick, taking it into the Bearcats’ offensive zone. Then, the Catamounts launched the ball across the field to one of their forward, who broke past BU’s defense and found the back of the net, making it a 1-0 game.

“Our guys were probably a little too high,” Marco said. “We were getting away from each other a little bit and leaving too much space behind us and then we just had a guy mistrack a player. It was a very good goal, but probably we shouldn’t have been put in that situation.”

The remaining 32 minutes of the half played out much the same, with Binghamton managing to diffuse several opportunities from Vermont. In particular, in the 25th minute, the Bearcats blocked three shots from the Catamounts. The Bearcats had isolated chances, however, they were never able to maintain offensive zone possession, with the Vermont defense consistently tracking down the ball.

Vermont would continue to control the pace of play in the second half, scoring four goals in quick succession to jump out to a 5-0 lead. The Catamounts got on the board off of a corner kick in the 56th minute, with the ball being shot into the box and headed in. Vermont’s second goal came in the 62nd minute — after the Catamounts took advantage of a BU turnover and capitalized with a goal.

“I think we lost concentration in the moment, which is vital in our game,” Marco said. “You lose concentration in a moment in soccer, and bad things can happen.”

Then, just two minutes later, a Catamount forward was left uncovered by the Binghamton defense and was fed the ball into a breakaway opportunity that allowed him to find the back of the net to make it 4-0. Vermont’s final goal came in the 69th minute, as another Binghamton turnover was taken in by the Catamounts and put in the back of the net. When the clock ran out, BU found itself on the losing end of things, suffering a 5-0 defeat.

“I think for us to continue to improve this season and for us to still make a run for playoffs, our aggressiveness can’t dip,” Marco said. “That dipped in the game, and our concentration level had to stay at a high. It really felt like the last three weeks the gap between our performance and our potential was very close and I felt like last night, in those 15 minutes, we were so far from our potential that it really hurt us.”

Binghamton will remain at home to take on Cornell on Tuesday, Oct. 17. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

After settling for a 1-1 tie last week against NJIT, the Binghamton men’s soccer team secured its first America East (AE) conference win on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory at Albany. Despite the heavy rain and a sluggish first half that ended with a 1-1 deadlock, the Bearcats rallied in the second half to score two more goals — in a four-minute span — winning in Albany for the first time since 2015.

“What a wonderful job by the guys to come back from 1-0 down to win 3-1,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “What a competitive, disciplined performance we got from the guys tonight.”

Albany’s (4-7-1, 0-2-1 AE) offense was relentless in its attack in the first half, controlling possession for almost the entirety of the period. The Bearcats’ (3-6-2, 1-0-2 AE) defense was able to diffuse most of the Great Danes’ dangerous chances, keeping Albany to the outside, where quality chances were hard to come by. BU thought it had got on the board with a goal in the 29th minute by way of a free kick, but it was called back due to an offsides call.

The match continued with Albany constantly pressing and Binghamton responding on defense while simultaneously looking for an opening. The Bearcats seemed to have another opportunity in the 30th minute, driving up the field and being awarded a throw-in close to the Albany goal. However, the Great Danes managed to gain possession and catch up to the Bearcats — further up the field. Albany was able to drive down the field and create a two-on-one opportunity, putting the ball in the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.

“We train often about stopping counter-attacks off set pieces,” Marco said. “And for us to give up the first goal that way was extremely disappointing. There’s a couple of guys who are responsible for negating counter-attacks and we just didn’t do a good enough job. Give credit to Albany. They did really well in that moment.”

Despite the goal, Binghamton continued to try to get on the board while defusing multiple chances from Albany. Eventually, the Bearcats were rewarded for their efforts at the end of the first half. In the 40th minute, BU began to apply more pressure on Albany’s defense. Not long after, the Great Danes made an error that resulted in an own goal, allowing Binghamton to tie the score at one going into halftime.

The Bearcats built on the momentum they gained at the end of the first, launching multiple attacks toward Albanys’ goal. After several failed chances, BU broke through in the 68th minute. A Binghamton throw-in was directed into the box, where it deflected off an Albany player to freshman forward Anthony Randazzo. Randazzo was then able to gain possession and put the ball past the Albany keeper for his first collegiate goal, giving the Bearcats a 2-1 advantage.

“The message at half-time was to keep our foot on the gas and continue to not let the game settle in, continue to be forceful with the ball, continue to be forceful without the ball and then to make sure we had good layers of players who win first and second balls,” Marco said. “I thought the guys were terrific at it tonight.”

The Bearcats struck again four minutes later. With another throw-in opportunity, close to the Albany net, graduate student back Michael Bush launched a ball toward the head of sophomore midfielder Calvin Moe, who headed it into the net to record his first goal of the season, giving Binghamton a 3-1 lead. The BU defense continued to keep Albany at bay, turning away several Albany attacks in the last 10 minutes of the game to secure the 3-1 victory.

“I thought our guys were very good individually, whether it was in the air or on the ground,” Marco said. “And then collectively our back four with our two holding midfielders were very, very good today. They were fantastic.”

Binghamton will return home to take on Vermont in its homecoming match on Saturday, Oct. 14. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.