Despite achieving its best overall record since 2005 and its best conference record ever, the Binghamton women’s soccer team could not overcome the experienced Boston Terriers to steal the America East crown from them.
The Bearcats’ season came to an end last Saturday, after a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Boston University in the final game of the America East Conference playoffs.
After achieving the No. 2 seed in the AE and narrowly advancing past the semi-finals, this loss left the Bearcats as runners-up to the championship title, and brought them down to a 1-9 all-time record against Boston.
The game started out evenly, with Boston outshooting Binghamton just 5-4. In the 11th minute, the Terriers opened the scoring, and after freshman Jamie Holliday barely missed a game-tying goal, the Bearcats went into the second half with a 1-0 deficit.
Boston University struck again just 5:50 into the second half. The Terriers piled on the scoring with two more goals, outshooting the Bearcats 14-2 in the decisive second half, bringing the final score to 4-0, and marking the end of a record-breaking season for Binghamton.
When discussing the loss, head coach Sarah McClellan emphasized the difference in play in the first and second halves, acknowledging that the second goal, allowed off a penalty kick, might have been the impetus for change in her team.
“Our offense did a good job, especially in the first half, putting a lot of pressure on Boston’s back line, and getting the ball forward, so I was pleased with that,” McClellan said. “[The game] was actually quite close in the first half … they started getting more opportunities once we went down to zero in the second half. They held more possession in the second half. The first half was a more even game, and there was an unlucky goal by a suspicious free kick call, but we outshot them in goal in the first half. But [in the] second half, Boston really was able to pick up their level of play.”
This is Binghamton’s first time placing as runner-up, and Boston’s seventh time winning the AE championship crown, making it their third straight. The difference in experience between the two teams has been a factor in the Bearcats’ poor all-time record against Boston.
“They’re more experienced,” McClellan said of Boston. “Their veteran players took over the game once they had gotten that second goal on us, and we’re just inexperienced in our championship play. It is our first championship for our current players.”
Boston’s continuing dominance of the America East has given the Bearcats a lot to handle in every match-up.
“Boston is the top of the conference, they are always at the top of the conference, and they’ve won a number of championships in a row … and if you look at any other of the conference teams and they’ve beaten them, as much, or more. So I think [1-9] is an unfair stat. Boston is a good team, and good teams try to win. We’re an up and coming team, and we’re going to see improvement on all fronts.”
Though this defeat does mean the end of the road for this Binghamton team, McClellan chose to remain optimistic about what the future has in store for these Bearcats.
“It was a really good run for our kids this year,” McClellan said. “To have our best record in conference regular season, to reach our goal of posting in conference, we went through a lot this season. Tt was a long road for us, and ultimately we just weren’t able to outperform Boston in this final game. And that’s something do with experience, and we’re playing against a very good Boston team, and we needed to have our A-game, and we needed to do everything right in order to have a chance, and we just fell a little short.”
The Bearcats finish up the 2009 season with a 9-7-2 record, its first winning record since 2005. Their 6-2 conference record was the best conference winning percentage in school history.