The Bearcats have forgotten how to win outside the cozy confines of Vestal.

The Binghamton University men’s soccer team (12-5-0, 4-3-0 AE) dropped another America East road contest against Vermont (5-9-2, 3-2-2 AE) Wednesday, bringing its road record in the America East to 0-3.

Vermont, aided by a strong first-half wind, scored on its first two shots and held off Binghamton for the remaining 78 minutes to down the Bearcats 2-0.

Just three minutes into the match, Tyler Hasman cleared a ball which sailed over Binghamton’s defenders’ heads deep into Bearcat territory. Jordan Crasilneck took a shot that hit the left post and ricocheted past keeper Jason Stenta. It was Crasilneck’s first goal of the season.

Ten minutes later, Hasman set up a T.J. Gore goal after Catamount goalie Roger Scully cleared a ball over the Binghamton defense.

The Bearcats, despite taking six shots, couldn’t capitalize on the favorable wind in the second half.

‘I don’t really have one answer for why we’ve struggled on the road lately,’ Stenta said. ‘Our chemistry hasn’t been great, we’re not playing as hard as we should and our frame of mind going into the game is bad.’

The Bearcats have little time to dwell on the loss, as the regular season championship will be on the line tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s showdown with rival Stony Brook (9-6-3, 3-3-1 AE) will be one of the most important regular-season games the Bearcats will have played in their six years under head coach Paul Marco.

The Bearcats find themselves in a strange position. Because of their weak performances on the road and dominance at home, they want to host all their playoff games to have a good chance of winning the tournament. But in order to host all the playoff games, they almost certainly need to win tomorrow on the road.

If the Bearcats win outright against Stony Brook, they will claim the AE Regular Season Championship and the accompanying No. 1 seed in the tournament championship. If they tie, they can be seeded anywhere from first to sixth. If they lose, they can be seeded from third to sixth.

SBU’s Michael Palacio is tied for first in the AE in assists, and ranks sixth in goals.

Stenta believes that Binghamton is not intimidated by the prospect of another game on the road.

‘We know we were away for the first eight games and were 5-0 at some point,’ Stenta said. ‘Guys are going harder in practice now. We’re tackling harder, like we used to. There was a lot of energy in practice today.’

Luckily for Binghamton, Stony Brook plays on a turf field. The Bearcats have been a perfect 6-0 on their own turf field this season.

The teams kick off at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Live scores will be available via Stony Brook’s athletics Web site.