Coming off of a 2-0 win against UMass Lowell last week, the Binghamton women’s soccer team extended its America East (AE) unbeaten streak to seven games with a 2-0 victory against Vermont on Sunday afternoon. After scoring two goals in the first half, the Bearcat defense held strong in the second half to keep Vermont at bay, with junior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams making a season-high 10 saves in the match.

“Over the course of 90 minutes, I thought Vermont gave us some difficult moments in the opening 15-20 minutes of the first half,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “But we made a couple of changes and the game came back to us, and we talked about making big moments and we centrally did that. I thought our back line was excellent.”

Following kickoff, the Catamounts (8-5-1, 2-3-1 AE) quickly went on the attack, and within the first four minutes, attempted a shot on Binghamton’s (5-4-5, 4-0-2 AE) goal which resulted in a corner kick. However, the Bearcats’ defense headed the ball out of their box and kept Vermont off the board, resulting in a chase for possession over the ball. Shortly after, the Catamounts attempted another shot on goal, but Williams made the save.

“I thought [Williams’] positioning was pretty good,” Bhattacharjee said. “She knew what she needed to do as far as shot-stopping. We knew they had some pace up top so there were a couple of times she had to come up for some through balls, so she did pretty well.”

At the 25-minute mark of the first half, graduate student midfielder Olivia McKnight, with the assistance of senior midfielder Victoria McKnight and freshman forward Paige Luke, fired the ball into the back of Vermont’s net to give BU a 1-0 advantage. In response, Vermont increased its aggressiveness as its offense drove the ball into the Bearcats’ territory and attempted a shot on goal just seven seconds after BU’s goal, but was unable to find the back of the net.

“Very happy with it, the back line did a good job stepping in front of a shot [that] was given up,” Bhattacharjee said.

The ball primarily remained on BU’s defensive side for a five-minute period, with the Bearcats determined to bring the action over to Vermont’s side. Taking advantage of a small break in Vermont’s offense, the Bearcats maneuvered between several Catamounts and drove the ball swiftly up the field. Finally, at the 31-minute mark, BU’s efforts paid off when sophomore forward Samiya Reid received a pass from V. McKnight and got off a shot nearly immediately, which connected with the back of the net to put the Bearcats up 2-0.

“I thought it was a very good collective team defense effort which we needed if we were gonna get a shutout today,” Bhattacharjee said.

As the first half came to a close, Vermont attempted two more shots, but its efforts were derailed as Williams promptly saved all of them. Now with two goals on the board and the whole second half remaining, the Bearcats worked to maintain their lead.

Heading into the second half, the ball went back and forth between the two teams until the Bearcats attempted the first shot on goal of the half, which went out left. Binghamton stayed consistent with their shot attempts in the second half, seeing three attempts in 17 minutes. However, the score remained 2-0 as neither BU nor Vermont were able to capitalize on their opportunities.

“I thought it was a very good collective team defense effort which we needed if we were gonna get a shutout today,” Bhattacharjee said.

The second half saw five shot attempts on the Bearcat’s goal, but Williams stayed unwavering in her position and saved every one of Vermont’s attempts to keep the Catamounts off the board. Despite BU being outshot 17-6 in the match, in the end, the Bearcats walked away as the victors, earning a 2-0 shutout victory.

“We knew that we were gonna be tested defensively,” Bhattacharjee said. “[Vermont] is a good attacking team. I believe they are coming in on 25-26 goals, so for us to get a shutout, I thought it was going to be somewhat of a tall order, but we did it.”

Binghamton will continue AE play when they face off against Maine on Sunday, Oct. 22. Kickoff is set for noon at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.