Joe Torre, Phil Jackson and the ghost of Casey Stengel are planning a dinner for four. Binghamton University men’s soccer coach Paul Marco should check his mail for an invitation.

Under Marco, the Bearcats have become an America East dynasty, with four consecutive finals appearances bookended with two championships, one last season and the first in 2003.

With their 2007 season scheduled to open Saturday at the Radford Highlander Classic, the Bearcats have a new home turf field to look forward to and incredibly high expectations to meet.

‘To win the final again, to win a national tournament, to go as far as we possibly can go,’ said junior backfield Barry Neville when asked about the year’s goal. ‘The goal for this year is win a national title.’

Neville’s penalty kick against the University of Vermont in the first overtime period of last season’s finals gave the Bearcats a 1-0 victory and the AE Championship. Binghamton lost to Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 2-1, after surrendering a 1-0 lead.

‘It’s more disappointment in ourselves ‘ we had the lead and we gave it away,’ said senior midfielder Matt Narode. ‘No hatred [for Harvard], but I wouldn’t mind seeing them again in a tournament game.’

This season Binghamton was picked to finish as champions again in the AE’s annual preseason coaches’ poll, albeit narrowly: the Bearcats received 54 total votes, while Boston and Vermont, who finished second and third respectively in the voting, received 53 and 52. Binghamton and Vermont both received three first-place votes, while Boston had two. (UMBC, which was picked to finish seventh, was the only other team to receive a first-place vote.)

But the Bearcats want more than just a conference title.

‘Every year we look for the double [both an AE regular season and playoff championship] and we want to go to NCAAs,’ Narode said. ‘We did that last year, but our goal is to go further. Maybe even hosting an NCAA tournament game, that’d be great, but we want to get past that first round of NCAAs.’

The slogan for the Bearcats this season is ‘better.’ The team has T-shirts with the word on it as a reminder that even if they are champions and the toast of the league, they can always improve.

‘There’s a lot of ways to look at it,’ Marco said. ‘Some people can look at it like, you achieved it, so now what? Can we do it again? Our program has done it four years in a row where we played in the finals, so I don’t think we’re a one-hit wonder. We’re used to trying to play through that competitiveness, where each team that we’re playing against is trying to beat us.’

The one thing Marco said would not be the downfall of the Bearcats is a sense of entitlement and the loss of humility that goes with it.

‘I will never let that happen,’ Marco said of his team becoming complacent. ‘There’s no concern about that. Complacency won’t be a reason why our team’s not successful.’

One potential hindrance is the loss of leading scorer Peter Sgueglia, Bryan Arnault, Cody Germain, Joey Neilson and Ibrahim Yusuf, graduates who combined for 12 of the Bearcats’ 20 goals last season.

But back are Jason Stenta, last year’s fill-in goalie turned hero; senior backs Adam Chavez and Narode; and junior backs Mark Wood, Liam Carson and Neville. The offense may need some sorting out.

‘Right now I haven’t found them, the guys who will play up front and will get the Bearcats goals,’ Marco said.

One reason the Bearcats may be successful is their new multimillion-dollar turf field, which will increase the speed of the game.

‘I think it’s great,’ Chavez said. ‘The speed of the ball is going to be a lot quicker. I think it’s going to be good for a style of play because we’re a fast-paced, technical team.’

Marco said the new field was ‘fantastic’ and that he looks forward to opening night under the lights during the team’s first home game, against Cornell, on Sept. 29, at 7 p.m.

Torre, Jackson and Stengel’s ghost should be in the stands, watching to see if the dynasty can last another year.