I loved that word. Perfect.

The reality of my life was much messier than I was willing to let myself believe. I lived with my dad and two sisters in a stressful environment. While my friends had stable home lives, mine was a little more chaotic. I didn’t know how to respond, so I simply worked to make my life as perfect as those around me.

When I involuntarily chose to go to Binghamton University, I felt like I had failed in my quest for perfection. No private school had thought I was worthy of a scholarship, so I was banished to western New York with all the other angry 18-year-olds who were in the same situation.

Freshman year was a nightmare. That’s the only way I can describe it. I made wonderful friends, but they transferred home, and I cried every day that summer, dreading my inevitable return.

But something changed sophomore year. I began to make friends with new people, people who had chaotic home lives, too. People who were scarred by their pasts, but unwilling to let it affect their vision of the future or who they were in that moment.

For the first time, I learned how to stop complying with the conservative social values I had grown up with and allowed myself to have opinions and feelings without fear of what others might think. I’m still working out the kinks, but I’m an entirely different person now than I was when I set foot on this campus three and a half years ago.

Pipe Dream helped me with all of that. It taught me how to stand up for myself and introduced me to people I would never have been friends with outside the walls of our office basement.

Now, as I leave Binghamton, I’m not searching for perfection anymore. Sure, it’s a nice concept, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m never going to have a perfect, normal life. I’m going to live an unsettled and chaotic life, but honestly, I wouldn’t be happy any other way.

College is tricky, and difficult, and makes you question every part of your inner soul, but in the end, it spits you out a better person than you ever could have envisioned.

And now for a couple of shoutouts:

Sam and Evan — Thanks for putting up with me, even when we all knew I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I’ve never had brothers before, but you’ve taught me that maybe they aren’t that bad.

Colin and Noah — You’ve listened to a lot of my shit and honestly, that’s more than I could ever ask. Thanks for being amazing friends even when I probably didn’t deserve it.

Kim — We bonded over an impossible class sophomore year, and you may think that I was the one holding you afloat during microeconomics, but honestly, you were the one helping me. I needed a friend like you more than I even knew at the time, and you helped me more than I can ever really tell you.

Rebecca — I’m going to cry; can we do this drunk? Thank you for making me learn how to say what I really wanted instead of being a complacent bitch. It’s changed me for the better. You’ve kept me humble, but you’ve also taught me that it’s OK to be messed up, and I think that’s the most important lesson I learned in college, if not in life.

To the rest of the Pipe Dream staff — have fun this year, and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the paper!

Grace Palumbo is a senior double-majoring in business administration and history. She is an assistant sports editor.

So where did our money go?

According to Binghamton University’s mandatory fees explanation chart, the fee, which is charged solely to undergraduate students, “supports Binghamton University’s Division I intercollegiate athletics program and campus athletics facilities.” This includes expenses such as traveling to away games, paying for new uniforms and equipment and preparing facilities for use.

Remember when the men’s basketball team went to Cancún last Thanksgiving while you were at home arguing with your siblings about who was going to wash the dishes after your turkey dinner? No? Well, it’s quite possible that a portion of the fees you paid went toward its travel expenses and resort stay anyway.

For the 2016-17 season, USA Today compiled data on the finances of every team in the NCAA. At many of the schools that dominate men’s basketball and football — where the bulk of NCAA revenue comes from — students do not pay any fees to support athletic programs. These schools include Texas A&M, Michigan and Georgia. Students at the University of Florida are still mandated to provide funding to their teams, but only contributed about $1.90 per credit hour over the 2018-19 school year toward an athletics fee.

BU isn’t alone in forcing students to pay considerable fees, not by a long shot, but almost $600 a year is a lot of money to fork over to programs such as men’s basketball, which went 11-20 overall last season, and only 2-14 in the America East Conference (which are the games that count toward qualifying for the postseason).

So is it worth it?

At a school like Binghamton, which averaged only 2,501 people in attendance at 2017 men’s basketball home games in the Events Center, which can hold up to 5,142 people, I don’t think it is. I can also, sadly, assume that of those average 2,501 people, even fewer of them were students, which makes the problem even worse.

It’s nice that the University allows students to attend athletic events for free (just bring your BU ID!), but how many of us can actually say we’ve taken up this offer? And if non-athlete students aren’t going to games, then what benefits do paying for Division I teams offer us? Certainly not good press (regarding the 2009 men’s basketball scandal), and statistically overall, not a ton of wins this season, either.

Just because these are of some of Binghamton’s failures, though, doesn’t mean the fee doesn’t benefit the athletes. In the past two years, we’ve had a handful of baseball and basketball players go on to professional careers. Our sports programs also allow athletes an opportunity to earn a scholarship while playing a sport they love. It’s not all bad, but it’s not quite fair that other students’ money is, partially, financing the endeavor.

Five hundred and ninety dollars is the same amount of money my dad gave me to buy food this semester. It’s the same amount of money as, maybe, six textbooks (depending on your major). It’s also the same amount of money as, maybe, per chance, your own trip to Cancún (if you’re thrifty, which most of us are).

In conclusion, I don’t want to say that $590 is too much to spend on student-athletes, because I know they work hard and, hopefully, benefit from this contribution. But guess what? The rest of us would benefit from an extra $590 in our bank accounts, too.

“Individually, I hope to just make more of an impact on the court [this season],” Boland said. “The past couple of years, I feel like I’ve had more potential than how I’ve performed.”

Boland’s basketball career began at just 5 years old, and she’s been playing ever since. Transitioning to collegiate play felt like a natural choice for her.

“I guess I’d just been playing my whole life and I got super into it and really passionate about it, and I knew that I could go to a school to further my education and athletic career, so I feel like it was in my best interests,” Boland said.

She chose Binghamton based on the environment of the team and the close proximity to her home in Clifton Park, New York. Facing major shakeups in the team’s atmosphere this year due to the loss of players and former BU head coach Linda Cimino, Boland seemed optimistic about the upcoming season.

“I think the coaching change has allowed us … to have more chemistry on the court and enjoy each other on the court more, and I feel like it’s a good change that we needed,” Boland said.

She further asserted that though Watkins and James contributed to the team in a major way, filling their shoes would not be impossible.

“They’re definitely very good players, both on offensive and defense,” Boland said. “I feel like other players, including myself, need to step up in those categories, but I don’t think we’ll have too much of a problem doing it. I think we’ll leave off right where we ended last year.”

In the 2017-18 season, Boland averaged 4.5 points per game, tied for sixth in the America East (AE) Conference for blocks and earned her first career double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. But her goal this season is to focus more on playing as a team.

“[I want to] become a better passer, probably, and set my teammates up for more baskets,” Boland said.

Boland also made clear that the women’s basketball team would be in hot pursuit of the AE Championship title this year. Last season, they qualified for the postseason conference tournament for the second time in program history, but were eliminated in the first round after a deflating loss to the University of Hartford.

Strapped with more play time and a desire to shine both individually and as a team, Boland is certainly well-equipped to make a big impact this year, but it’s her love of basketball that truly draws her to the court.

“I’m just excited for the season,” Boland said. “I’m excited to play with this team and these coaches, and I think this year, we can be very successful.”

Caldwell’s fellow teammates and Binghamton students alike may be surprised to note that one of the most notable changes he faced in his transition from LCC to BU was the warmer temperatures in the Southern Tier.

“It was colder in Colorado, way colder,” Caldwell noted.

While he may be changing his tune when winter rolls around, Caldwell was also pleased by the new role he’ll be featured in upon joining the Bearcats.

“I had to switch my position, too,” Caldwell said. “I used to play on and now I’m off the ball, and I feel way more comfortable because I feel like it’ll bring my turnovers down.”

With the Lopes, Caldwell served as a point guard, racking up 16 points per game in about 27 minutes of play across each match last season. While he will soon see the difference in the competition after leaving junior college, Caldwell did manage to record nearly four assists per game as well as shoot a respectable 42 percent from the field. He also helped lead the Lopes to a No. 11 ranking during the 2017-2018 year, starting 25 out of 28 games.

At the men’s basketball media day in October, Caldwell seemed optimistic and beyond confident about the fate of the team this season, especially in its matchup against Michigan, which he asserted was the game he was most excited about in this year’s schedule. The Wolverines were one of the highest-ranked teams in college basketball last season, dominating the Big Dance as a No. 4 seed and eventually falling short in the national title game.

“I’m looking forward to Michigan because I know we’re going to win … I feel like we got a good chance, because we got a lot of players with good heart, like all around, we play together good,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell’s contributions to the team will prove especially valuable since former BU guard Fard Muhammad has since transferred to the Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles. Muhammad’s 8.3 points per game last season, good for fourth highest on the team, leaves an unquestionable void in offensive production that Caldwell will presumably be tasked with filling.

Having already completed successful scrimmages against Lehigh and Bucknell, in which he ran with the starters and showcased his athleticism, and over a month’s worth of practices, Caldwell appeared satisfied with his new team and content with the strides it is making.

“We’ve just been playing good together,” Caldwell said. “Like as soon as I got here … we just played together well.”

As always, BU will be eyeing the America East Championship title, which would earn it a spot in the 2019 NCAA March Madness tournament this spring. However, Binghamton’s and Caldwell’s fate will be determined only when the team hits the hardwood.

Stony Brook:

The Seawolves entered the postseason tournament as the AE regular season champions, earning themselves this past weekend off as they awaited the results of the quarterfinal matches. SBU is led in goals by senior midfielder Serge Gamwanya and junior striker Jarred Dass, who each put six shots in the net over the course of the season. Despite their home-field advantage and their first-seed status, the Seawolves should not let their guard down in their first match against UMBC on Wednesday. Last time the teams met, the match ended in a 2-2 draw, and with a championship on the line, UMBC will likely be willing to go the extra mile to secure a win.

UMBC:

After defeating Vermont over the weekend in penalty kicks, the fifth-seeded Retrievers will take on Stony Brook this Wednesday. As previously mentioned, the last matchup between the schools ended in a tie, which likely means that fans can anticipate another competitive match come midweek. With upsets becoming synonymous of the UMBC athletics department, the Retrievers — led by freshman forward Jackson Becher, who was responsible for the winning penalty kick in the qualifying match against Vermont — could take victory.

UMass Lowell:

As the No. 3 seed in the conference, the River Hawks took a 1-0 victory over UAlbany over the weekend to solidify their place in the semifinal round of the tournament. UMass Lowell will take on UNH this Wednesday, but will lack home-field advantage. The River Hawks will likely leverage the offensive prowess of redshirt junior forward Stanley Alves and junior midfielder Roko Prsa, who have proven to be reliable in terms of scoring.

New Hampshire:

Two-seeded UNH also received a break this weekend and will play in this year’s tournament for the first time on Wednesday against three-seeded UMass Lowell. The Wildcats not only have the higher seed, earning them the right to a home-field advantage, but they were also the victors in the teams’ last meeting, taking a win over the River Hawks, 2-0. With sophomore back Josh Bauer and graduate student goalkeeper Lars Huxsohl named AE Defender of the Year and AE Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively, they appear to be in position to take victory.

Both of the semifinal matches will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7. The Seawolves will take on UMBC in Stony Brook, New York and the Wildcats will battle with UML in Durham, New Hampshire. The winners of each game will advance to the final tournament match, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, Nov. 11.

“We were beat a lot this year by a lot of individual silly mistakes, and today was another one of those,” said BU head coach Paul Marco.

At the start of the match, UAlbany (8-9, 3-4 AE) burst out onto the field and put up five corner kicks over a span of less than two minutes. None made it into the net, but just 16 minutes into play, the Great Danes were able to get the ball past redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris Shutler, putting the score at 1-0.

The Bearcats mustered together three more shots before the end of the half and managed to keep UAlbany out of its goal, but the damage was already done, and the score remained at 1-0 going into halftime.

BU opened the second half with shots from both senior midfielder Connor McKnight and classmate forward Nikos Psarras, but neither play yielded a goal. Instead, just 13 minutes into the second half, the Great Danes put up another goal, bumping the score to 2-0. Before the Bearcats even had a chance to respond, Albany put another shot in the net just under seven minutes later.

“Our guys still kept trying to play, and we’ve lacked a guy up front to give us goals and that’s been a challenge for us this season,” Marco said. “We just haven’t had anybody step up and give us goals, and you can’t really win games if you don’t score goals.”

With 25 minutes left and the score at 3-0, the Bearcats’ dreams of postseason play looked bleak. Junior forward Haris Brkovic put up a quick shot, and sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher pulled together a shot and a corner kick, but BU’s fate was already sealed. Binghamton fell to the Great Danes, 3-0.

BU’s loss to Albany puts the Bearcats out of contention for the AE Conference Tournament for the second consecutive season. It was the Bearcats’ 2017 loss against the Great Danes that disqualified them from postseason play last year as well.

“I don’t think we did enough,” Marco said. “We didn’t come in prepared again for the second season in a row, so whatever the guys are doing over the summer wasn’t enough, and that hopefully will change in the spring season.”

In the 2018 season, the Bearcats’ total number of conference wins increased from one match in the 2017 season to two this year. But with two AE ties last year and none this season, their loss total increased by one as well. The season ended on a seven-game loss streak, and the Bearcats have not scored a goal in the past three matches and failed to score a goal in nine different matches throughout the season. BU was near the bottom or the bottom of the conference in assists, shots, goals, points and goals allowed.

Back in August, the men’s soccer team seemed hopeful about the start of the season, expressing ambitions to reach the AE Tournament, at least. With its hopes dashed and its dreams crushed, it’ll need to make big changes in the offseason especially to avoid the same dismal situation this time next year.

“We had such high expectations of the team with so many seniors on the team, so from that standpoint, very disappointed for the senior group who come in and, as freshmen, play for a championship, and as we see a lot of them through those four years, they’re terrific guys,” Marco said.

The Binghamton men’s soccer team will return to the field for the fall 2019 season, sans seniors such as midfielder Harrison Weilbacher, Psarras and forward Chris Nkoghe. It’s nearly impossible to say that the future looks bright.

For those unfamiliar with the series, the revamped Sabrina exists in the same universe as the CW television series, “Riverdale,” and the two shows share a creator, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. “Riverdale,” although a fan-favorite series, features a lot of teenage soap opera-esque dramatics, and when I pressed play on the new Sabrina series, I was nervous there would be much of the same, but for the most part, I was, thankfully, wrong.

The first episode draws viewers in immediately with strong acting from the entire cast, but most notably from star Kiernan Shipka, who embodied the role of Sabrina perhaps better than I could have imagined. As a fan of “Mad Men,” where Shipka grew to fame playing Don Draper’s daughter, Sally Draper, I knew that Shipka had acting chops. She was also Aguirre-Sacasa’s first choice for the role. Her acting ability, paired with her palpable on-screen chemistry with the rest of the cast — especially her on-screen love interest, portrayed by Ross Lynch — made the series’ first few episodes not only watchable, but overwhelmingly enjoyable.

Lynch, best known for his role on Disney Channel’s “Austin and Ally,” had at first seemed like a risky choice for character Harvey Kinkle. But his portrayal of Harvey was surprisingly removed from his Disney roots. Viewers saw raw emotion and a mostly realistic take on the trials and tribulations of dating a half-witch.

As the series progressed, Shipka’s role as the driver of the series became much more evident as the plotlines began to veer off course. While the first episodes packed on the drama, there were some later episodes that felt like fillers. Without proper buildup, this made the final two episodes feel more like a stand-alone film than the culmination of a season’s worth of drama.

However, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” makes good on its promise of a dark and twisted tale. Being that I am inherently scared of anything labeled as horror, I would not deem “Chilling Adventures” as truly scary, but it was extremely gruesome (the witches are not afraid to kill one another and are known cannibals) and featured a few classic pop-out scares that grabbed the viewers’ attention.

Overall, I would rate the series at a 7/10. Problems include the length of episodes, which topped off at a full hour, and the soap opera-esque plots that populated some of the later episodes, when Sabrina began attending the witch academy and viewers were introduced to an alternative love interest and a classic troop of mean girls. Although not to the unrealistic caliber of “Riverdale,” if viewers watched closely, Sabrina and her friends at the witch academy found themselves in quite a few scenarios that felt catered to a teenage audience.

Seasons one and two were shot back-to-back on location in Canada, so Netflix will likely be posting the second installment of Sabrina’s adventures in the foreseeable future. I’ll be tuning in to watch, but if the plot features much of what was seen in the middle episodes of this season, I cannot promise I’ll stay on board for a third installment.

The Bearcats (3-10-2, 2-3-0 AE) came out onto the field hot on Saturday night, putting up two shots, courtesy of sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher, within the first 16 minutes of play. Both shots were saved by the Retrievers’ freshman goalkeeper Quantrell Jones.

In response, UMBC (8-4-2, 3-2-0 AE) recorded a shot of its own that found the back of the net just minutes later. This proved to be the lone goal of the match.

“I thought that we started the game pretty well,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “We let them in behind us one time down our left side, and they get a cross in the box and they’re crossing and finishing and they take the chance well. They get the goal. And prior to that, we had a couple of really good chances. And then after that, we had a lot of good chances, and I’m just disappointed that I felt like we ran out of time.”

Binghamton continued its offensive aggression for the remainder of the half, forcing Jones to make two more critical saves. UMBC also fired off shots, but none were near enough to the goal to prompt a save from redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris Shutler.

Coming out of the locker room in the second half, BU appeared determined to log a goal, and put in the work offensively to secure one. However, just as before, Jones was able to block each shot. The Retrievers attempted another goal as well, but their shots were either blocked or went wide, and did not require Shutler to step in.

The match concluded in a 1-0 loss for the Bearcats, who were unable to get past Jones. Shutler recorded zero saves during the match, as UMBC had only shot one goal, which managed to slip past Shutler and earn it the victory.

“I think that when a team is on a streak like we are right now, it’s really easy to just throw your hands up, and I don’t feel like our guys have done that,” Marco said. “I feel like our guys are still trying to find a way to win a game.”

Leading the team offensively, sophomore forward Jack Muller posted four shots and one shot on net. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, none of these chances translated to a goal.

“I thought that [Muller] was pretty lively, as usual,” Marco said. “He won a lot of balls for us. He put the ball in a lot of great positions to get goals. He had a couple of good strikes himself that just went right at the goalkeeper.”

As the team looks ahead, Marco seemed aware that another conference loss would affect his squad’s chances at qualifying for the postseason.

“We know that we’re still playing for playoffs, we know that that’ll go through to the last day, as it usually does,” Marco said.

Up next, Binghamton will have its final scheduled home game of the season against the University of Vermont. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27 from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

The River Hawks began the match aggressively on offense, netting a goal just three minutes and eight seconds into play. For the remainder of the period, the Bearcats attempted to make up the deficit. Sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher logged two corner kicks and three shots, and senior midfielder Harrison Weilbacher contributed a shot as well. However, the half ended at 1-0.

In the second half, the Bearcats were able to hold off the River Hawks for about 16 minutes of play before UMass Lowell put its second shot behind the line. Less than a minute later, they grabbed another goal, pushing the score to 3-0 with under 30 minutes left in the match.

Substituting redshirt junior Chris Shutler for redshirt sophomore Isaiah Pettis in goal, it appeared BU head coach Paul Marco was trying to turn the tide of the match in the last few minutes. Despite the change in goalkeepers and a display of offensive energy from the rest of the squad, the Bearcats’ efforts to play catch up proved futile. Binghamton fell to UMass Lowell in a 3-0 shutout.

Pettis and Shutler collected a combined three saves. Despite them spending only 23 minutes of play in goal, two of the saves were courtesy of Pettis. Meanwhile, the additional save, and all three of the goals allowed, occurred during Shutler’s 66 minutes as the keeper.

The game featured two yellow cards on UMass Lowell players redshirt junior back Chase Reichenberg and sophomore back Giuseppe Granara. The River Hawks also posted twice as many fouls as the Bearcat squad, committing 12 to Binghamton’s six.

The loss puts the Bearcats in sixth place in the AE conference standings with a 2-2 AE record. They have just three conference matches left in the season to earn a bid in the AE postseason tournament that they failed to qualify for in 2017. Before the Bearcats jump back into conference play, however, they have one last nonconference matchup against Bucknell. The Bisons (5-4-3) are currently ranked third in their conference.

Binghamton will take on Bucknell Tuesday, Oct 16. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“I thought that we prepared really well for the match and then our effort was average, below average,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “It wasn’t what we had been seeing from the guys, so I was a little disappointed in our inability to cover ground and make life difficult for the opponent.”

The game began with Binghamton on the defensive end, warding off an onslaught of shots from the Mountaineers’ offense. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Isaiah Pettis racked up four saves in the first 17 minutes alone. However, his efforts were unable to stop a shot from West Virginia’s junior defender Ryan Kellogg, who netted his first goal nearly 22 minutes into the match.

Four minutes later, before the Bearcats even had a chance to respond to Kellogg’s goal, the West Virginia offense had rifled another shot into the back of the net, pushing the score at 2-0 just 26 minutes into play. The remainder of the half went on without any further goals from the Mountaineers or BU.

“I thought right after they got their second goal, we go down to get a goal, and I really think that would’ve helped us make it 2-1 and now we’re back with some fighting spirit, but we just missed wide on a header,” Marco said.

The second half featured an offensively charged Bearcat squad as it attempted to close the gap and log a goal of its own. The team was unsuccessful in securing a score, but it was able to hold West Virginia scoreless in the second half of the match. Pettis posted four more saves over the period to ensure the Mountaineers were held to two goals.

“I thought [Pettis] played his part,” Marco said. “Some of the saves that he was making were distant saves, so they weren’t really troublesome. He did make three terrific saves in the game.”

Despite the Bearcats’ attempts at a comeback, the Mountaineers took victory on their home turf, 2-0.

“I thought that the game just kind of played out that way,” Marco said. “Once we conceded the two goals, we got through to halftime. At halftime we talked to the guys, they came out better in the second half. I guess the best part of the match was that we saw some new faces and the guys played fairly well in the game. Looking ahead to Saturday’s game now, we’re hopeful that we have a full squad back for Saturday.”

The Bearcats, for their part, are still undefeated in AE conference play with two victories. They will take on Stony Brook this coming Saturday as part of the Homecoming festivities. The Seawolves (5-3-2, 2-0-0 AE) are currently tied with BU for first in the conference, giving good reason to believe that the match will likely be highly competitive.

“Homecoming is always a special game and knowing that it’s a conference game, it will be a very tight game and to see some of the alum back in, it’s just a great feeling,” Marco said.

Binghamton takes on the Seawolves on Saturday, Oct. 6. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“Hartford was a good team, they have some very tricky players,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “I thought defensively we did a great job of keeping the team compact. We were very good [at one-on-one] defending. I think all the things we talked about this week and leading up to the match, the guys executed quite well today. Very proud of the guys.”

Binghamton came out onto the turf looking for a win on Saturday night, and within the first four minutes, graduate student midfielder Kevin Flesch, assisted by sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher, put the ball into the net. This was incredibly notable, as in previous games this year it has been the Bearcats surrendering early goals to their opponents, and on Saturday, the tables finally turned.

“We get a goal directly from the training ground — those things are always great,” Marco said. “I thought that our attacking guys were very good in the run of play, and I thought on set pieces we were quite dangerous. Overall, a complete performance by the guys. I couldn’t be prouder at the moment.”

Play remained competitive for the duration of the first half, with both BU and Hartford (0-6-3, 0-1-0 AE) firing away shots. However, it was not until the second half that the Bearcats were able to find the back of the net, courtesy of sophomore forward Jack Muller, assisted by senior midfielder Harrison Weilbacher. The goal gave Binghamton a comfortable margin with just under 30 minutes left in regulation.

In response, Hartford jumped into action on the offensive end, putting up four shots before the match was over. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris Shutler was able to ward off their attack, though, and kept the Hawks scoreless. When the whistle sounded at the end of the match, Binghamton captured the victory, 2-0.

This was Shutler’s fourth career clean sheet. He racked up four saves over the course of the game.

“I really thought [Shutler] played his part today,” Marco said. “He didn’t try to do too much, he tried to play his role behind the guys and I thought he was excellent.”

The Bearcats have a weeklong break before they kick off against their second AE rival, the University of New Hampshire. Marco has no plans to let the team’s victory go to its head, however.

“We still can do better throughout the matches,” Marco said. “We have to look at why we’re having a dip occasionally in a match. I thought that the attacking guys were quite good in the first half. We had a little bit of a let down in the second half, so we’ll address that. This open week allows us to get after the guys physically, so hopefully we can push them a little.”

Binghamton will face off against New Hampshire on Saturday, Sept. 29, during family weekend. Play is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

And yet, these same student-athletes are the focal point of an almost billion dollar-per-year industry. In the top college football and men’s basketball programs, head coaches such as Nick Saban of Alabama and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke rake in nearly $10 million annually — all while their athletes take in nothing.

How can they get away with this?

By citing the importance of “amateurism,” NCAA prohibits the payment of student-athletes. Its website maintains that amateurism is crucial to preserving an academic environment in which acquiring a quality education is the first priority.

Its argument may seem plausible until you consider such cases as that of Stanford running back Bryce Love, who was criticized by CBS college football reporter Dennis Dodd. He asserted that Love’s absence from the team’s media day set a “dangerous precedent” for other players.

So if amateurism is such an important concept, why are respected industry professionals shaming student-athletes for putting their education first? And if industry professionals want to treat student-athletes as professionals, then why shouldn’t these athletes receive compensation for their work?

During the 2016-17 season, the University of Texas collected over $200 million in total revenue. Its football program alone took in over $100 million, including $42.4 million in ticket revenue, but the student-athletes, whom fans paid to see, took home nothing for their contributions.

According to a survey conducted by the NCAA in 2011, the average Division I athlete spends about 40 hours per week on athletic activities, including practices, games and traveling. This leaves little time to devote to academics or a social life. And forget about weekends — during football season, most games take place on Saturdays, and when these are across the country, you don’t have much time to do anything else.

Forty hours a week is the same amount of time an average adult is expected to be working at a full-time job, but the average adult has no schoolwork on top of this workload and also gets paid a living wage to devote the majority of their time to one task.

Student-athletes receive only one thing: a degree. And some — those who choose to leave early to go pro, or those who are forced to return home due to unforeseen circumstances — don’t even get to cash in on this.

Plus, when you spend 40 hours a week on something nonacademic and have virtually no free time during the on-season, there is a limit to how high your GPA can go.

It’s also important to note that a lot of student-athletes struggle financially. In a joint study conducted in 2010 by the Ithaca College Graduate Program in Sport Management and Media and the National College Players Association, it was found that the average NCAA athlete pays around $2,951 in school-related costs, which is a lot if you come from a low-income area, and when you consider that these are the same athletes who bring in millions of dollars in revenue to the school’s sports programs.

College athletes are playing in a system that isn’t fair. In the NFL, on top of the millions each player is paid to play for their team, they can earn millions more starring in media campaigns for brands such as Nike, Under Armour and the likes. But college athletes aren’t even allowed to accept money from sponsors. Missy Franklin, an Olympic swimmer, learned this the hard way when she chose to go to the 2012 games as an amateur to maintain eligibility in the NCAA. She gave up what could have been millions in endorsements in favor of a collegiate career.

We need to pay our athletes if we want to maintain this system, because otherwise, it’s rigged in favor of a program that exploits the talents of young athletes to rack in millions.

Last week, Binghamton was able to record a tie and a victory against Monmouth and Lehigh, respectively. The match against Monmouth proved a nail-biter that ended in a double overtime shutout on both sides. Contributing greatly to the team’s success was redshirt junior goalkeeper Chris Shutler, who remained in goal for the duration of the match, racking up seven saves against the Nighthawks.

Against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, the Bearcats were down early before they made a comeback in the second half. Originally tied at 1-1, freshman midfielder Andrew McDonnell put the Bearcats ahead 2-1 on a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher. The goal proved to be a monumental moment not only for the team, which took home its first victory of the season, but also for McDonnell, as the goal was the first of his collegiate career.

“I thought we were playing quite well in the last few matches on the road,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “We go down to Columbia and we just didn’t execute and play to our strengths. We didn’t do the things we had done in the previous two games, and Columbia’s a good team, and they punished us for our mistakes.”

The Bearcats, with Shutler in goal, were able to hold off Columbia longer than they held off Cornell and Drexel in previous matches, as the Lions did not net a goal until almost 24 minutes into regulation.

BU was unable to counter Columbia’s first goal, and instead, the Lions rifled another shot in the net just 14 minutes later. Both freshman forward Kostas Nika and graduate student midfielder Florian Orth launched shots in response to this second goal before the half ended, but neither resulted in any scores for the Bearcats.

Coming into the second half, sophomore forward Jack Muller took the reins and posted two shots for the Bearcats. His efforts proved futile, however, and minutes later, Columbia scored its third goal of the game.

Despite numerous shot attempts from the Bearcats for the remainder of regulation play, the team failed to put the ball in the cage and lost without a score on the board. Columbia walked off the field as victors, taking the match, 3-0.

“I thought that, going into the game, I thought we could cause them some problems in certain areas,” Marco said. “At times we did, I just don’t think we did enough in the game. We have become a team who is more happy possessing the soccer ball than trying to score goals. If we can just solve that one little problem, I think that we’ll be less playing on our end, we’ll create less chaos for us and more chaos for the opponent.”

Looking to earn its second win of the season, the men’s soccer team will take on Colgate University in its first home game in two weeks on Friday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

“[I’m] just disappointed in the way that we conducted ourselves during the match,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “We didn’t manage the match well. We had enough seniors on the field today to show experience against a young Cornell team. So, just really disappointed in the performance that our team put forward tonight.”

Both teams were bursting with energy at kickoff, and the action began quickly as Cornell (1-0-0) put the ball in the net just under three minutes into the match. Sophomore forward Jack Muller responded quickly with a shot on goal for Binghamton (0-3-0), but the kick proved futile.

“We played pretty well before their goal and their goal comes too early,” Marco said. “It’s the first time really that they cross the halfway line with possession and they get a goal from it, and it really was our back forward not very good tonight.”

The Bearcats continued to play aggressively for the remainder of the first half. Muller contributed an additional shot, while senior midfielder Harrison Weilbacher put up two shots and sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher made an attempt on goal as well. However, their attempts were thwarted by solid goalkeeping and defense.

Just seconds before the halftime buzzer sounded, Cornell held possession of the ball near Binghamton’s goal. Unable to defend the shot or push the ball out of bounds, Big Red nabbed a goal just as the buzzer sounded, putting them up 2-0 at the half.

Despite the gut-wrenching goal, the Bearcats came into the second period levelheaded. They continued to launch shots toward junior goalkeeper Ryan Shellow, but their aggression progressively lessened. The team was successful in holding off any additional scoring from Cornell, but it was unable to put a goal on the board itself.

With just minutes before the end of the game, the Bearcats desperately attempted to get on the scoreboard, with successive shots from graduate student midfielder Florian Orth, senior forward Chris Nkoghe and freshman forward Ben Hamilton. Their efforts proved unsuccessful, and when the buzzer sounded, Cornell took home the victory, 2-0.

“Hopefully, we get a different response in the next match because the games are getting tougher and tighter,” Marco said. “When you don’t compete and you try to just play soccer, it’s Division I, the players are just too fast, they close you down too quickly and you have to battle more, and we didn’t bring a battle tonight. We just wanted to play pretty soccer and have time on the ball and that’s not going to win games.”

Marco also expressed that he hopes his players will become more committed to training effectively in order to prepare for Division I competition.

“Our guys need to keep believing in themselves, believing in their teammates, working hard together and knocking a guy over in training,” Marco said. “We need to be a little more competitive at training because we don’t see what we see in the match in training. Guys are too careful, cautious, friendly with each other and it needs to be a lot more combative than it is, just like it was tonight in the game.”

Binghamton will look to take home its first win of the season in its fourth game of 2018 this Tuesday, Sept. 4 on the road against Monmouth. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Hesse Field in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

“All spirits are terrific, the guys are flying, fitness is OK, little better than it was last year,” said BU head coach Paul Marco.

At preseason media day in early August, Marco seemed optimistic about the upcoming season and the physical capability of his players, and expressed his interest in using different techniques than those employed last year.

“I’m open to new ideas, new ways,” Marco said. “I try to stay fresh with the modern game, and some of that is we need a little more downtime. We can’t push the guys if they’re not as fit as they needed to be.”

This year, in addition to some outside talent, Marco added two new local players to the Binghamton squad: freshman midfielder Parker McKnight and freshman back Carter Beaulieu, both part of the Class of 2018 of nearby Vestal High School.

“One of the local guys, [McKnight], is out all season with an injury,” Marco said. “The other one is finding his way, as all the freshmen kind of do … Really excited about [Beaulieu]. He’s done really well on the fitness tests.”

The Binghamton team is also returning a number of key players from last season, including sophomore midfielder Noah Luescher, senior forward Nikos Psarras and graduate student midfielder Kevin Flesch.

Luescher, a breakout star last season, earned three goals and five assists over the course of play. He earned the honor of AE Rookie of the Year at the close of the 2017 season as a result of his accomplishments.

“He’s coming back a little hungrier, he’s looked fitter … the thirst that he has for the ball right now is at an all-time high,” Marco said on Luescher. “He’s been outstanding on the ball.”

The players themselves also expressed excitement over not only the new season, but also the new additions to the team.

“I feel like we have a good freshman class coming in, and this year we have a lot of seniors, and I hope that we can lead by example,” Flesch said.

Luescher echoed Flesch’s sentiments and expanded upon the comeback the team hopes it can make this year.

“Not making the tournament was devastating and I think we got really, really big goals this season, so it was disappointing [last season], but we’re really confident this year and I think we can make it far,” Luescher said.

Having already faced Niagara in a scrimmage earlier this week, the team looks to take on its first match of the nonconference season this Friday, Aug. 24 at Drexel University, while its first home game will not take place until Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Kickoff for the match against Drexel is slotted for Friday at 7:30 p.m. from the Vidas Athletic Complex in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Men’s soccer: Noah Luescher

Women’s soccer: Kayla Sagger

Volleyball: Gaby Alicea

Women’s basketball: Kai Moon

Check out our exclusive audio interview with Moon here.

Men’s basketball: Thomas Bruce

Wrestling: Frankie Garcia

Check out our exclusive audio interview with Garcia here.

“I don’t think we played as well as we could have tonight,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “It’s a little bit disappointing for our seniors who have to end it this way.”

BU began the game on the defensive end, blocking shots from Stony Brook until the Seawolves were able to post a goal just four minutes into the game. Senior attack Thomas McAndrew responded quickly with a goal for the Bearcats, with the shot assisted by senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli. However, the Seawolves sealed the quarter with an additional two goals, putting the score at 3-1 and cementing a lead that the Bearcats were unable to overcome for the remainder of the game.

During the second quarter, the Seawolves lengthened their advantage by tallying six more goals. The Bearcats, for their part, recorded two scores, one from senior midfielder Joe Grossi and another unassisted from Petrelli. The Seawolves’ strong offensive attack forced Binghamton to primarily focus on its defensive play, however. In the first half of play alone, redshirt sophomore goalie Kevin Carbone put up eight saves to help ward off additional SBU goals.

With the score at 9-3 at the beginning of the second period, it was clear the Bearcats still held some optimism for the remainder of the game. The team came onto the field strong and netted a shot in the first minute of play, courtesy of Grossi. From here, BU was able to answer almost every goal the Seawolves put up during the third quarter, but could ill afford to exchange points. McAndrew posted two unassisted goals to fuel the 12-7 score as the quarter drew to a close.

As the game continued, the play appeared to become increasingly aggressive. By the fourth quarter, the Bearcats, still looking to make a comeback, seemed more competitive than before. Three unanswered goals from Stony Brook pushed the score to 15-7. In the final minutes of play, BU was able to put up two consecutive goals, but the effort was not enough. The game ended at 15-9 in favor of the Seawolves.

“I think if we had the ball a little bit more, we might have had some more opportunities, but I think the better team won tonight,” McKeown said.

The end of Friday’s match marked the end of the season for men’s lacrosse as well. Having finished sixth in the seven-team AE Conference, the Bearcats failed to qualify for the postseason tournament. For seniors such as Petrelli, Grossi and McAndrew, this means that Friday’s match was also the last of their Binghamton careers.

“I don’t know if our consistency was there, throughout the year, but I give our seniors credit,” McKeown said. “We had a tough start to the season and we were able to pull it together a little bit at the midway point and go close to 500 from there on out, so it’s obviously not what we want but it was comforting to see that and hopefully we can take some lessons from this moving to the future.”

Both teams came into the match ready for competitive play. The first six minutes of the game featured the Bearcats and the Great Danes (11-1, 4-1 AE) going shot-for-shot until Albany was able to net its first goal. Binghamton was unable refocus and went on to surrender another goal just two minutes later. The remainder of the quarter saw the Bearcats faltering on the defensive end as it permitted Albany to net two additional scores. The Great Danes allowed only one BU goal, courtesy of freshman attack Sean Makar and assisted by senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli.

“I thought we were okay in certain aspects and then in other aspects we didn’t do great,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “I think once we got into a settled game of six-on-six, we were okay there, but in between the lines, clearing the ball, we didn’t do great.”

Binghamton came out attacking at the start of the second quarter, putting up a goal just under two minutes into play from junior midfielder Joe Licata. However, the Bearcats’ efforts failed to shift to defensive play, as Albany put up five consecutive goals. Licata and Petrelli were able to net two additional scores to help BU come back, but their efforts were not enough. The Great Danes secured one more goal before the buzzer sounded, putting the score at 10-4 going into the locker room at halftime.

During the third quarter, BU was able to hold Albany to just three goals and earned a goal itself. In goal, redshirt sophomore Kevin Carbone recorded an impressive five saves over this period. As play continued into the fourth quarter, however, Albany regained its footing, posting five more goals before the clock ran out. Thanks to the offensive efforts of Petrelli and senior attack Thomas McAndrew, BU was able to net two shots as well, but the game still went overwhelmingly in favor of Albany, 18-7.

“I thought Carbone played pretty well on goal, too,” McKeown said. “He saw some tough shots from some very high-level competitors and I thought he was able to fight a couple off that normally would go in for them.”

Albany currently ranks No. 1 in the AE Conference standings and No. 2 nationally. If Albany can retain its first-place status in the AE, it will host the conference tournament in early May.

BU still has one final conference match set for this Friday at home against Stony Brook, who currently ranks second in the conference. This past weekend, the Seawolves overpowered UMBC to earn a close victory.

“For us, it’s really going to be about putting a great game together for our seniors, with it being their last home game and most likely last game as well,” McKeown said. “Our hope is that everybody will rally around them and we’ll be able to get a win against Stony Brook.”

The Bearcats are set to face off against the Seawolves this Friday at 7 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

Entering as the No. 13 seed in the 184-pound weight class, Schneider traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for the last competition of his collegiate career. Garcia, on the other hand, made his NCAA debut, qualifying as a sophomore in the 149-pound weight class.

On Thursday, Schneider took down his first opponent, UPenn senior Joe Heyob with a 4-1 victory that allowed him to advance to the round of 16 on Thursday night. Taking on No. 4 seed redshirt senior Pete Renda, Schneider could not replicate his earlier successes and fell to the NC State wrestler in a 9-0 major decision. Despite the defeat, Schneider moved on to Friday’s competition in the consolation bracket.

Garcia also went 1-1 on the day, but due to a 7-0 major decision loss to his first opponent of the morning, No. 7 seed Northwestern freshman Ryan Deakin, Garcia moved into the wrestlebacks for his second matchup on Thursday. In the alternate bracket, which competed for the third-place title, he was able to defeat Air Force’s senior Dane Robbins in a close competition that ended in sudden victory. With the win, Garcia was able to move forward in the consolation bracket on Friday as well.

“[Garcia] continues to grow as a wrestler,” said BU head coach Kyle Borshoff. “He’s exciting to watch. I had a number of coaches come up to me from other schools and say how apparent it is that the effort he puts in and how hard he wrestles, and it’s pretty neat for me as a coach to have one of our athletes being noticed by a number of other schools’ coaches.”

Friday’s competition was not as successful as Thursday’s had been for the Bearcats, although both Schneider and Garcia put up a good fight.

Schneider, in the wrestlebacks consolation bracket, took on Brown’s junior CJ LaFragola, and despite being seeded higher, Schneider fell to LaFragola, 5-3.

“I think [Schneider] competed well and wrestled hard, but at the end of day we got knocked out and he’s a tough person so he’ll use this experience to build himself up and get better and move forward in whatever he wants to do next,” Borshoff said.

Garcia, taking on No. 9 seed Max Thomsen, fell to the University of Northern Iowa redshirt sophomore in a 14-4 major decision match.

“We’ve got some things to clean up with [Garcia] but he’s got two years left, so getting the experience of being here and wrestling is invaluable,” Borshoff said. “This is going to be something that Frankie builds on over the next couple of years.”

Schneider, who graduates in May, ends his Bearcat career with an impressive 108 career wins, three NCAA Championship appearances and a four-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) place winner, the most of any wrestler in BU program history.

“[Schneider] was the first four-time EIWA place finisher for our school, three-time national qualifier and we went out of the tournament today and it was hard,” Borshoff said. “It’s always hard when you lose here. You do so much during the year and over your career and you put so much effort and time into this sport and then when you lose it’s always hard.”

Last Saturday, Binghamton earned the first goal of the game against Hobart (2-3) just five minutes into the first period on a shot from sophomore midfielder Jon Perotto, assisted by freshman attack Jackson Rieger. However, BU held the advantage for just a minute and a half before the Statesmen went on a four-goal stretch that put them ahead, 4-1, at the end of the first quarter.

Hobart put up two more scores in the second quarter, extending its lead, before Binghamton countered with a goal from junior midfielder Joe Licata — his second of the season. The Statesmen were quick to respond less than a minute later, netting a goal of their own. The Bearcats were able to put up one more goal before halftime, but still trailed 7-3. Hobart held the advantage in shots on goal by a 15-to-five margin at the break, indicative of its dominance of play.

Riding its momentum out of the halftime locker room, Hobart came out onto the field and quickly put up four additional goals to lengthen its lead to 11-3, including two from sophomore attack Justin Scott, earning him a hat trick.

The Bearcats attempted to make a comeback, recording two goals, but their efforts were not enough to overcome the flurry of shots sent their way by Hobart during the period. Hobart rifled 11 shots on goal in the third alone, and extended its advantage to eight by its end. The Bearcats ultimately lost the contest by 11 goals.

Looking for redemption on Saturday against Cornell, Binghamton did not start off on the right foot. Going scoreless in the first quarter, the Bearcats were unable to put a goal on the board until midway through the second. Cornell was relentless on its offensive side of the field, resulting in a nearly insurmountable 11-1 halftime deficit for Binghamton.

“It was disappointing,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “I thought we’d be able to compete a little bit better than we did.”

The third quarter featured BU scoreless once again, while Cornell cashed in another five shots to extend the margin to 16-1, including the third and fourth of the game for junior attack Clarke Petterson. Another meaningless fourth quarter ensued for the Bearcats, who would ultimately drop the game in a blowout, only managing two goals the entire match.

“We saw some bright spots,” McKeown said. “[Junior long-stick midfielder] Tim Mattiace had five ground balls for us. [Senior midfielder] Kevin Fuchs was a guy who came in in the second half and kind of gave us a little bit of a spark.”

Despite his disappointment over the loss, McKeown was still optimistic about the team’s upcoming America East Conference games.

“Well really, it is all about getting ready for that conference play,” McKeown said. “Being 0 and six, none of that’s going to matter once we start conference play next week.”

Binghamton will continue the search for its first victory against the University of Delaware at home this Saturday, March 10. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

After an impressive season, the Bearcats (12-5, 6-1 EIWA) will vie for some of the 47 spots available to the EIWA Conference in the NCAA Tournament during the EIWA Championships this weekend. BU head coach Kyle Borshoff, who stepped into his role just a couple of short months ago, expressed optimism over the NCAA prospects.

“We wrestle in a challenging conference,” Borshoff said. “Our conference is the second-deepest conference in the country. We have the second-most qualifiers behind the Big Ten Conference and that’s something that is unique to our sport here. There’s 15 other teams in our conference, it’s a tough tournament. I’m hoping to get through four or six guys. I know there’s a lot of spots out there, but we’re going to have to go and wrestle and win those spots to get there.”

Before the championships this weekend, a number of wrestlers received ranks in the NCAA Coaches’ Poll. Notably, senior Steve Schneider was ranked No. 14, and ranked No. 13 nationally in a TrackWrestling poll. He finished out the season with a 16-4 record and a career record of 101-42 in the 184-pound weight class.

The Binghamton wrestling team itself earned a No. 10 ranking in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Mid-Major Top 20 Poll released last week. Borshoff was excited about the results, but was reluctant to let recognition get to the team’s head.

“I think it’s a notable thing for us to be mentioned in that poll,” Borshoff said. “My goal is to be a top-10 program, regardless of conference, so it’s nice to be mentioned in the mid-major poll and it’s a good steppingstone toward where we want to be, but at the end of the day, we want to compete with the best teams in the country, regardless of conference affiliation.”

Having lost just one match in the EIWA meets this season, Borshoff felt encouraged about how these results would impact their chances of victory over the weekend.

“That’s [only one loss in the EIWAs] really encouraging,” Borshoff said. “It’s great that we’ve gotten to wrestle so many conference duals. We’ve seen our conference opponents not only in dual meets but in some of the tournaments we’ve wrestled throughout the year, and in those tournaments we’ve done really well with the conference competitors as well, so that mark is really encouraging. It shows the guys on our team, and everybody within our conference that we’re coming to compete, we’re coming to win and we’ve been doing it all year, so I don’t see why anything is going to change this weekend.”

Borshoff said the team is excited about the prospect of a landing an NCAA Championship spot as well.

“The team’s really fired up right now to get into the postseason,” Borshoff said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work this year, coming off a great regular season, getting votes in the top-25 national poll for the first time in six years, and that’s creating an energy within the team where the guys are feeling good about what we’ve done. We’ve won a lot of conference dual meets, now we’re just going to make sure the guys are healthy and ready to go this weekend, and as long as we show up and wrestle hard, good things are going to happen.”

The Bearcats are set to travel to the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on in Hempstead, New York on for the EIWA Championships on March 3 and 4.

“We certainly have a long ways to go to where we want to be, you know, come time for the America East Conference games,” said BU head coach Tim Sinicki.

BU came into the series strong, earning a 4-2 victory against the Flames (6-1) in the first game on Friday afternoon. The team scored three runs in the second inning alone, spearheaded by a home run from sophomore infielder Justin Drpich to center field. The Flames scored two runs in the third inning on a double that sent two runners home, but Binghamton extended its lead to four with a final run in the sixth on a single from senior outfielder Pat Britt. The game ended at a 4-2 score in favor of the Bearcats.

Notably, relief pitchers sophomore Jake Miller and freshman Reid VanScoter threw seven scoreless innings over the course of the match, helping hold Liberty to two runs and just five hits during the game.

On Saturday, Binghamton was not as fortunate as the day before. The team managed to score the first run of the game in the first inning on a home run from senior outfielder CJ Krowiak, but Liberty did not let the Bearcats take the lead so easily. The Flames drove in a run of their own in the bottom of the first on a ground out.

From here, play went back and forth between the two teams. By the fourth inning, the game was tied at 3-3. The Bearcats managed to earn another run in the fifth to push the score to 4-3, but Liberty scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth, which gave it a lead Binghamton failed to overcome for the rest of the match. Each team posted an additional two runs before the game ended in favor of Liberty, 10-6.

Sunday saw another disappointing day of play for the Bearcats. While BU went scoreless for the first eight innings, Liberty tacked three runs on the board during the second and third on two home runs.

Binghamton looked to make a comeback in the ninth, recording two runs during the top of the inning, one of which came off of a home run from Krowiak, his second of the weekend. The second run came off of a single from senior catcher Jason Agresti. Despite the rally, BU’s two runs were not enough to take the lead, and the Bearcats fell to the Flames, 3-2.

Next weekend, the Bearcats will return to Virginia for another three-game series, this time against the University of Richmond. Sinicki hopes that a week in practice will help the team prepare for play.

“Baseball is a game of repetition, so we need to continue to get our work in offensively and defensively and prepare for another big weekend, next Friday, Saturday, Sunday down in Richmond,” Sinicki said.

The three-game series will begin Friday, March 2 and last until March 4. First pitch is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. from Pitt Field in Richmond, Virginia.

Schneider’s wrestling career began in elementary school, but the sport was not always his primary focus.

“I started wrestling to keep in shape for baseball, so my parents put me in the wrestling program in third grade and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Schneider said.

Alongside the support of his parents, he credits one of his youth coaches, Colin Curnuck, and a precollege mentor and coach, with helping him stick with the sport. After a noteworthy wrestling career at MacArthur High School that included a 175-22 record, Schneider chose Binghamton out of a wide selection of schools across the nation.

“I had a bunch of offers on the table, different schools, some out west, some down south, and I just felt like, with the coaching staff at the time and the teammates that I was going to school with, that it was the appropriate decision and it would be the best choice academically and athletically for my personal goals [to come to Binghamton],” Schneider said.

He recently surpassed 100 career wins to earn a 101-42 collegiate record. Even with this accomplishment, Schneider has not yet fulfilled his own personal collegiate goal quite yet.

“I want to be an All-American at the end of the season … that’s my own personal goal for the postseason,” Schneider said.

Currently No. 13 in the 184-pound weight class, this goal should not be too difficult to attain for the Long Island native.

As for postgraduate plans, Schneider will forgo a career related to his psychology major and will instead be practicing real estate in New York City while living on Long Island. He doesn’t plan to give up wrestling altogether, however.

“Luckily, I have a little brother who wrestles competitively in high school, so hopefully he’s going to grow the way I think he is and I’m going to be his training partner for the next three years while I’m back home living on Long Island,” Schneider said. “So wrestling is not — I hope it doesn’t — it’s never going to escape my life.”

As his last season draws to a close, Schneider says he’ll miss the blood, sweat and tears he shared with his teammates the most.

“Those moments, during practice and the workouts, and winning and losing [with my teammates], those are the most important to me and I’ll never forget those,” Schneider said.

Schneider will hit the mats in a Bearcat uniform for what could be the last time in the upcoming Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships on March 2 and 3. If he qualifies, he will be eligible to compete in the NCAA Championships in mid-March as well before retiring his Binghamton singlet.

“I did think that we fought and we competed hard,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown. “Our execution was way off. We lost our composure a couple of times in certain situations. Really, the bottom line was we didn’t execute what our jobs were, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”

The Raiders (2-0) came out ready to attack and claimed six goals within the first eight minutes, forcing Binghamton to scramble heavily on the defensive end. BU was able to net a goal of its own with less than six minutes remaining, thanks to redshirt senior attack Sean Gilroy assisted by senior attack Thomas McAndrew, but Colgate went on to counter with four goals. Binghamton’s senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli netted the ball once more before the end of the first period, leaving the score at 10-2 as the match entered the second quarter.

Colgate exhibited dominance again in the second quarter, but BU was able to hold the Raiders to four goals while coming back offensively to score three of its own, two of which were unassisted shots from Petrelli. Freshman attack Sean Makar and junior midfielder Joe Licata teamed up to net the last shot just nine seconds before the half ended, putting the score at 14-5.

In the third period, the Bearcats attempted to gain control of the match with a goal from Makar, assisted by freshman attack Will Talbott-Shere, just under two minutes into play. Colgate rebounded immediately with a score, but Makar was able to counteract this play with another goal for BU. This proved the end of Binghamton’s offensive success, as Colgate came back to net two more shots before the third period ended at 17-7.

In the last quarter of the match, the Raiders held off the Bearcats from scoring further and cashed in on four additional goals to strengthen the already considerable advantage. Despite valiant defensive attempts on behalf of the Bearcats, the match ended in favor of the Raiders, 21-7.

Although the team was disappointed, McKeown was still proud of the team’s overall effort.

“I thought our offense did well in the game,” McKeown said. “We shot the ball very well. We only had 21 opportunities to shoot though, which normally we’d like to take double that.”

In goal, freshman Hunter Greco and freshman Robert Martin shared time during this match. Combined, both players earned a total of 13 saves, though the bulk of these were credited to Greco, who stayed in goal for 45 minutes, as opposed to Martin’s 15 minutes of play.

“When we had the ball, we did well,” McKeown said. “We just didn’t have it enough because of the faceoffs and we didn’t have enough stops on defense to get the ball to our offense.”

Binghamton is set to play its first home game of the season against Canisius on Tuesday. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. from the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

Binghamton and Syracuse have previously met on the turf six times over the past 10 years. The Orange has won each of these matches, so although Saturday’s loss was not unprecedented, the huge scoring margin was discouraging. Last year, Syracuse downed the Bearcats by only one goal, taking victory 9-8.

Syracuse scored the first goal of the match under two minutes into the game and continued dominating offensively for the remainder of the first quarter. By the end of the period, the Orange had racked up eight goals and held Binghamton scoreless.

In the second quarter, Syracuse controlled the time of possession as well as scoring. The Orange netted an additional five goals before BU was able to net one of its own, courtesy of senior attack Thomas McAndrew, assisted by redshirt senior attack Sean Gilroy, with just three minutes left in the half. Before the second period ended, senior midfielder Stephen Petrelli found the back of the net to cut Binghamton’s deficit to 11. BU’s offensive efforts put the score at 13-2 at halftime.

Following the break, Binghamton was unable to build on its momentum and allowed two goals to the Orange. Gilroy went on to cash in on an unassisted shot with about eight minutes left in play, but Syracuse responded with a goal of its own just under a minute later. Freshman attack Will Talbott-Shere attempted to make up ground with another goal, but the Orange was quick to respond again. The game ended with a score of 21-4 in favor of the Orange.

In goal, time was split between seasoned veteran redshirt sophomore Kevin Carbone and two new recruits, freshmen Hunter Greco and Robert Martin. Together, the trio was able to post 11 saves over the course of the match.

Although the loss was disappointing, the Bearcats are looking ahead to the rest of the season to find areas to improve upon.

“I thought we were going to leave here today with a different outcome,” said BU head coach Kevin McKeown, per bubearcats.com. “We’re still trying to figure out who the 2018 Bearcats are going to be. This is not who we are so we have a lot of work to do. As a coaching staff we are going to go home, roll up our sleeves and figure out what we need to do to move forward from here.”

Following last year’s historic success, the men’s lacrosse team has a glowing reputation to live up to this season. The 2017 Bearcats posted a program record of 11 wins, which put them in position to advance to the America East Conference Championship match.

The Bearcats are set to face off against Colgate this coming Tuesday, Feb. 13. Play is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. from Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, New York.

The showdown started off with a tone-setting 3-point shot from Watkins, who left the game just five points shy of 2,000 career points. She broke Binghamton’s program record for career 3-point field goal with a total of 226.

“[Watkins] is a special player and today she did it on both ends,” said BU head coach Linda Cimino. “She really defended very well today, and it may not have shown up in the box score, but she did a good job. I’m really proud of her, I know she beat the all-time 3-point record for the school today and [is] closing in on 2,000. Her No. 1 goal this year is to win a championship, and those individual accolades will come with some team success.”

The first half featured strong play from both sides of the court. BU surrendered the advantage to the Seawolves only once, but Stony Brook kept itself within only a few points of the Bearcats’ squad. Toward the end of the first half, Binghamton was able to pull away somewhat, ending the second quarter with a nine-point advantage and leading the Seawolves 34-25 at halftime.

“I think against this team it’s important to get stops,” Cimino said. “You have to convert, not even turnovers, but just defensive stops in the points because last time we got killed on the boards and it just took us out of our rhythm … So we got stops and we got points and it really opened up a lot of things for us. We had a pretty comfortable lead going into halftime.”

In the third quarter, the Bearcats added to their lead with solid defensive play, maintaining a double-digit point margin for the majority of the quarter.

Toward the end of the fourth quarter, as regulation play was drawing to a close, the Seawolves looked to make up the difference. They were able to get within four points of Binghamton, but with four converted free throws from Watkins, the Bearcats verified their position as the winner.

Watkins was Binghamton’s top scorer in Monday night’s game, with 25 points, while sophomore guard Kai Moon trailed behind her with 17 points. Both of the players’ offensive capabilities and efficient 3-point shooting helped keep BU in control for most of the game.

“Kai Moon is tough. She’s a tough player and she most certainly played tough today and knocked down some huge free throws for us,” Cimino said.

The Bearcats are scheduled for a rematch against UMBC, a team they beat previously, 81-51.

“[UMBC] is going to be tough,” Cimino said. “They’re going to look for revenge against us and we know it’s coming and we’ve got to defend if we want to win.”

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday night from the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I thought we played with great intensity and great emotion,” said BU head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We had our chances and we just didn’t make our plays right there at the end.”

The Wildcats took initial control of the game, scoring a 3-pointer just over two minutes into the first half. Redshirt freshman guard Tyler Stewart was quick to respond with a shot from beyond the arc for Binghamton, but just seconds later, UNH netted another 3-pointer.

“[Stewart] is tough, he’s a good player,” Dempsey said. “He’s going to have a great career. He’s young, he’s still learning, but he’s wired the right way. He’s aggressive, he believes in himself and he made some plays.”

The remainder of the half featured both teams fighting to take control of the lead. Binghamton remained in control of the game for the majority of the half, but the Wildcats were never far behind. With just 3 1/2 minutes left in the half, they managed to take the lead, and although the Bearcats gained the advantage once again thanks to a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Fard Muhammad and a made free throw from junior guard Everson Davis, the half ended at 28-25, in favor of UNH.

With the score close, the crowd remained hopeful as the second half got underway. Just a minute into play, the Bearcats were able to tie the score at 28 on a layup from Davis. Even as the team earned the tie, however, Dempsey’s nerves were evident as he perched anxiously on the sidelines, watching the team like a hawk.

The two teams remained in close play, taking turns controlling the edge, until BU went on a five-point run that gave it a 40-35 lead over the Wildcats. This failed to last, however, and within a few minutes UNH was able to grab hold of the advantage once again.

With five minutes left in the second half, the Bearcats possessed their largest lead of the game, up seven points on the Wildcats. The crowd was cheering loudly and the match looked like it might go in favor of BU. Undeterred, UNH slowly began to catch up to the Bearcats until the game was tied, 50-50, with just 1:42 left of play.

The Wildcats earned two foul shots and sunk both, putting the game at 52-50 with 1:12 on the clock. Binghamton tied it up with a layup from Stewart, and UNH took possession of the ball. The players took their time near the hoop, slowly running down the clock. With 22 seconds remaining, UNH junior guard Jordan Reed nailed a 3-pointer, pushing the score to 55-52.

On BU’s subsequent possession, the team forced the ball to the other end of the court. Junior guard J.C. Show rose for a 3-pointer with hopes of tying up the game, but his luck ran short as the clock ran down. He missed the shot, and with an additional two free throws netted on the Wildcats side, UNH took the game, 57-52.

Despite the defeat, the Bearcats are still going to continue to fight for a spot in the postseason AE Tournament.

“I just tell [my team] that we gotta keep fighting,” said senior forward Willie Rodriguez. “Things are going to go our way soon. I know we’re struggling right now, but no one can say that we’re not playing hard and giving it all.”

The Bearcats are next set to face Vermont, the top seed in the AE Conference and the reigning AE champions, on Wednesday from the Events Center in Vestal, New York. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

BU’s day began in New York City, where Binghamton (6-4) claimed victory in six of the 10 matches. Redshirt junior Joe Nelson set the pace of the match, claiming the first victory in the 125-pound weight class in over four minutes of ride time in the 16-5 major win. Redshirt junior Joe Russ also put up a notable victory, earning four takedowns in what appeared to be a lost match, to come back for a win against Columbia (2-7) junior JP Ascolese, 8-7. In the 149-pound weight class, redshirt sophomore Frankie Garcia claimed a 3-1 victory against his opponent in a match that was scoreless for the first period.

“Garcia got a great win over Columbia,” Borshoff said. “If there was one match of the week that I would say exceeded expectations, it was when [Garcia] beat his opponent from Columbia. That was a highlight for us.”

After taking the win at Columbia, the squad ventured to Long Island to compete against Hofstra (7-6). The Bearcats were able to capture eight straight matches against the pride, posting a 27-9 victory.

Nelson secured his second victory of the day and the first of the match, versus sophomore Jacob Martin. Teammates redshirt senior Jacob Nicholson, Garcia, Russ, redshirt junior Vincent DePrez and senior Steve Schneider all followed suit, each claiming their second wins of the day as well.

Following the South Beach Duals in late December, the matches over the weekend marked Borshoff’s second and third as acting head wrestling coach. As the team faces new leadership, he asserts that only small changes have been made to the team’s day-to-day activities.

“We’ve made some small changes, our goal hasn’t changed, and the way that we’ve been training is the way that we believe in and that’s how we’re going to have success at the end of the year,” Borshoff said. “So, in general, things haven’t changed drastically, but there have been small changes that we’ve made and a couple of areas we’ve tweaked. But we just wanted to stay comfortable with our training methods as we moved through the season.”

Despite former head coach Matt Dernlan’s resignation, the team’s long-term goal also remains the same.

“Our long-term goal is absolutely to be a national power in wrestling,” Borshoff said. “We’re trying to bring in the best and brightest students in the state and from surrounding states. The talent in the Northeast is top-notch and that’s where we’re recruiting from, and we believe that with the guys we’re recruiting, we can make a push at being a top-20 team, maybe a top-10 team and just continue to work our way up.”

Borshoff also made clear that the contests this weekend marked an important shift in the mentality of the wrestlers.

“The guys are starting to really believe in themselves,” Borshoff said. “In wrestling, confidence is so important and that’s where we’re starting to get better. The guys are starting to really believe and buy into what we’re doing. They’re believing that we can compete with the best guys in the country and I think we’re seeing direct results of that belief when we go out and wrestle.”

The Binghamton wrestling team is set to return to the mats on Jan. 27, facing off against the University of Pennsylvania at 2 p.m. and Drexel University at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“It’s good to show how exciting this sport can be and how exciting it is for our community,” said BU head coach Matt Dernlan.

The unprecedented event set Binghamton’s wrestlers against some of the top competition in the nation, and despite the 40-2 loss, the Bearcats felt that they still took a lot away from the experience.

“We know what we’re up against, from being there and from coaching with those guys,” Dernlan said. “And you know what, that’s what Penn State wanted. They didn’t want us to come and just lay down. They wanted to say, ‘Hey, come give us your best shot.’”

Coming into the match strong in the 125-pound weight class event, redshirt junior Joe Nelson successfully claimed victory over Penn State’s redshirt freshman Devin Schnupp, 7-4.

From here, the competition proved too stiff for the Bearcats, as they went on to lose each of the remaining nine matchups over the course of the night. Some Bearcats fared better than others against Penn State’s nationally ranked roster, however.

Redshirt sophomore Frankie Garcia was pinned by PSU senior Zain Retherford just two minutes and 37 seconds into the 149-pound weight class matchup. Teammates redshirt sophomore Tristan Rifanburg and redshirt junior Anthony Lombardo also succumbed to the Penn State wrestlers in their respective 157-pound and 174-pound weight classes, via a pinning. They managed to last slightly longer in each of their matches, clocking out at 4:23 and 3:14, respectively.

“I wish that we would’ve seen [the fight] a little bit more consistently throughout the lineup but, again, this is where we have to build,” Dernlan said.

Each of the other Bearcat wrestlers finished their rounds, but lost by decision. Redshirt junior Mark Tracy remained within just six points of his opponent in the 197-pound weight class, the smallest point difference over the course of the night in any single match.

Looking toward the future, Dernlan was optimistic about improving for the remainder of the season.

“The goal is to build and not replicate the mistakes every week,” Dernlan said. “We’ve got to recognize what the mistakes are and improve them.”

On Sunday, the Bearcats looked to correct some of their mistakes from Friday night at the Black Knight Invitational in West Point, New York. They succeeded in placing in every weight class except the 184-pound event.

Taking second place was redshirt junior Joe Russ in the 141-pound event, Garcia in the 149-pound event and Tracy in the 197-pound event.

Garcia, who lost quite defeatedly Friday night, made a comeback in the 149-pound weight class to take second place at the Invitational, falling only to Lock Haven senior Ronnie Perry in the final round.

Redshirt junior Connor Calkins (285) and Rifanburg (157) managed to overpower their opponents in their respective third-place matches and take the honor.

Junior Steven Bulzomi placed fourth in the 125-pound event. Redshirt junior Vincent DePrez (165) and Lombardo (174) also took fourth in their respective weight classes. Rounding out the Binghamton placers was redshirt senior Jacob Nicholson, who earned fifth place in the 133-pound weight class event.

As a team, Binghamton finished fifth out of sixth in total match points, earning 261, and edging out Bloomsburg.

The Bearcats are set to return to the mats next weekend for matches against Eastern Michigan University, Indiana University and Indiana Tech at the Indiana Duals on Sunday, Nov. 26. Competition will last all day from the University Gym in Bloomington, Indiana.

Faced with stiff competition, the Binghamton squad fared well. In the 125-pound weight class, sophomore Audey Ashkar tied for fifth place with redshirt junior teammate Joe Nelson.

In the 141-pound weight class, freshman Dane Heberlein took fourth place, falling to Penn State freshman Nick Lee on a tech fall in the third-place match. Fellow Bearcat redshirt junior Joe Russ took victory in the fifth-place match over Ohio freshman Alec Hagan and claimed the title for Binghamton.

Sophomore Parker Kropman took sixth place in the 149-pound weight class in a tie with Cornell sophomore Chris Schoenherr. Last year, in his debut season as a Bearcat, Kropman finished with a 19-12 overall record.

Redshirt junior Vincent DePrez, managed a second-place finish in the 165-pound weight class, falling in the championship match to junior Jon Jay Chavez of Cornell. He was joined at the competition for the first time by his brother, freshman Lou DePrez, who made his highly anticipated collegiate debut at the invitational. He also recorded a second-place finish in the 184-pound weight class.

Redshirt junior Anthony Lombardo took fifth place in the 174-pound weight class, overpowering Ohio redshirt freshman Joseph Terry. Fellow classmate redshirt junior Mark Tracy also took fifth place in the 197-pound weight class, taking down Army sophomore Alex Hopkins. BU head coach Matt Dernlan seemed optimistic about Tracy’s potential for the upcoming season in a preseason interview.

“Tracy has been a very consistent performer for us,” Dernlan said, as per bubearcats.com. “Our goal this year is to help get him ready to make a run at postseason and take the next step to get to Cleveland in March.”

Rounding out Binghamton’s top placers was redshirt junior Connor Calkins’ second-place finish in the 285-pound weight class. Calkins was unable to overcome senior Garrett Ryan of Columbia, who won by major decision in the championship round.

“Connor is looking to make that next step as well, not just placing at the [Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association] Tournament but punching a ticket to NCAAs,” Derlan said.

The Bearcats came away from the invitational with 606 match points, only trailing behind Cornell, who racked up 745 points. In terms of winning percentages, Binghamton recorded a 73-46 record on the day, managing a 61.34 winning percentage and beating out tough competition such as Harvard and Columbia in terms of this statistic.

In a preseason interview, Dernlan had a positive outlook on the rest of the season, and with results such as these in the first tournament, he has good reason to be.

“If we can keep a consistent effort and attitude, great things can happen,” Dernlan said. “I’ve been in this too long and I know how difficult it is to produce All-Americans and national champions. So, I’m not going to project what we can do. I believe in what we can do, and I know in my heart and my mind what we’re capable of. Now the challenge is getting these guys excited to go after this goal and set new standards for this program.”

With the season opener under their belt, the Bearcats look ahead to their home match against Penn State on Friday night. Competition is set to begin at 7 p.m. from the Events Center in Vestal, New York.