Off the heels of a 4-3 comeback victory over UMBC, the Binghamton women’s soccer team had their second come-from-behind victory in as many weeks on Sunday, defeating Bryant 2-1. Despite dominating the ball for the entire first half, a Bulldogs score gave them the lead going into the break. Undeterred, the Bearcats rallied for two scores in the second to secure their second America East (AE) win.
“It’s a big three points for us,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “[It] gets us back to .500 in conference play with the second half of the conference now coming up. So we’re in a decent spot. Good to get two straight conference wins, and we’ll keep going from here.”
Binghamton (5-5-2, 2-2 AE) wasted no time entrenching its attack into Bryant’s (4-6-3, 2-2 AE) third to open the contest. The hosts took control of the game through their defense, generating a key sequence in the fifth minute where a crucial tackle by sophomore defender Sophia Garofalo opened up a play that resulted in a shot from senior forward Hannah Mimas, which ended up in the Bulldog keeper’s gloves. Exploiting Bryant’s heavy interior scheme, Binghamton constantly broke away with the ball along the lines en route to 14 shots on the half.
“We talked a lot about how we wanted to defend,” Bhattacharjee said. “By defending hard in the midfield, that’s where we were able to get balls that were won in 50/50 opportunities and create pressure that didn’t allow Bryant to get into the necessary rhythm. When we did that, then it just led into our play.”
Despite all of the offense generated by BU in the first, the squad was unable to find the quality finish it needed to get on the board. Instead, striking first was the visitors. After being held away from Binghamton’s third for most of the period, Bryant sustained ball control with five minutes left in the period. This brief breakaway was all the Bulldogs needed when a clean shot in the 44th minute found the gap between senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams’ glove and the net to make it a 1-0 game going into the break.
Looking to get an insurance goal and stop Binghamton from getting on the scoreboard, Bryant would go on the offensive to open period two. The Bulldogs got a look into the Bearcat’s box in minute 50, but a block from Garofalo killed any chance of an insurance score. Not too long after, the Bearcats finally converted a chance. Off a corner kick in the 57th minute, junior forward Lauren Clark put the ball dead center into the net to knot the contest.
“The message at the second half was ‘we’re going to get after it,’” Bhattacharjee said. “We’re going to keep doing the same things. We really didn’t change a whole lot. We came back from being three goals down the game before, so we knew, one [goal] down with 45 minutes to go, if we played with that quality, that we were to get chances.”
With the score now at 1-1, the battle for ball control from both sides became far more physical. Junior defense Brooke Herber broke up a Bryant breakaway with a tackle in minute 62 while three Bulldogs swarmed freshman forward Jahkaya Davis to get a stop in minute 67. An opportunity arose in the 73rd minute as the ball was cleared, finding a wide-open sophomore defender/forward Megan Baker who began to push into Bryant’s box. Baker then kicked it out to Mimas who had her first shot at the goal deflected — but when the ball ended up back at her boot, Mimas made good on her second chance to give BU a 2-1 lead. Binghamton held out the rest of the way for the 2-1 victory.
“I’ve told the kids, ‘when we get that first goal, I got a feeling that it’s going to lead to more,’ which is exactly what happened,” Bhattacharjee said. “We’re pleased with getting the result and hanging on at the end. We knew Bryant was going to throw the kitchen sink at us in the last few minutes, which definitely was the case, and we were able to weather that storm.”
The Bearcats will remain at home as they look to continue their AE-winning ways against NJIT on Thursday, Oct. 17. Kickoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.