The Binghamton men’s soccer 2024 campaign came to an end Saturday night with a 1-0 loss at No. 3 UMBC in the America East quarterfinals. After outshooting the Retrievers in the first half 6-3, the Bearcats conceded a lone score late in the match and were unable to force an overtime period in the final minutes of play.

“I’d like to thank everyone who came out,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Thanks to all the players and the coaches for their energy, effort and commitment. This was one of the more enjoyable groups. I’ve had a lot of great groups but this is one of the more enjoyable groups to be with. Their selflessness and their commitment to each other and excellence was terrific.”

UMBC (8-6-4, 4-2-1 AE) got off to a quick start, nearly scoring in the second minute from a shot inside the box, but it went left of the Binghamton (8-7-4, 2-3-2 AE) net. The Bearcats responded with a near-goal opportunity of their own in the seventh minute when sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim found sophomore forward Anthony Randazzo on a cross that he headed at the Retrievers’ post. UMBC continued to threaten the BU net, and a deep cross nearly led to a one-on-one chance, but a run-down play from freshman back Ryan Gillon ended the attack.

“I mean inches, the game is a game of inches,” Marco said. “We hit the crossbar and the post three times in the game. Including after they scored a goal I thought we were going to get a goal back. So it’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t be a little more precise with our chances.”

Continuing to apply pressure, UMBC took a chance from deep outside the box, but a save from graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott forced a corner kick that they could not convert. The Bearcats went on to control offensive play for the remainder of first-half play, with redshirt sophomore midfielder Gaven Egan and Nahim each attempting a try at the UMBC net. BU’s offensive surge persisted with three unanswered shots, two of which came courtesy of Egan, but they were unable to break the deadlock as the foes remained tied.

“As the game kind of settled in, I thought we were just really good,” Marco said. “I thought the referee, the fouling, they called a lot of just contact in the game, and our guys enjoy contact so we had a lot of fouls called against us.”

UMBC replicated its early surge in the second half of play, attempting two corner kicks and a shot in the first six minutes of play. The Retrievers would continue their roll, earning two more unanswered corner kicks, while BU picked up two yellow cards. The match, however, entered a period of offensive cooldown, as neither squad registered a shot for the next 23 minutes of play.

“We were dealing really well with balls into the near post area,” Marco said. “Their goal came on a floated ball into the back post, but we had a couple of guys misread the ball, they didn’t read it the right way.”

Signifying the match’s turning tides, UMBC continued, rattling off two shot attempts in the 74th minute, both of which were blocked by Binghamton’s back line. After getting called for offsides twice, UMBC found its luck in the 84th minute when, following a corner kick, a Retriever was left open on the second ball, which he headed in for a 1-0 lead. Randazzo attempted two more shots in the final minutes of play, one of which hit the crossbar — his second try to do so in the match — but BU could not break through, bringing the season to an end.

“[The team is] already talking about ‘can we have little pickup sessions this week,’” Marco said. “So I’m really excited to see what the future holds, but a [in a] little mourning right now because the season is over.”

The Bearcats end their season in the AE quarterfinals after a year during which they earned their highest win total since 2015 and a third straight appearance in the conference playoffs. BU will lose key contributors, including McDermott, senior back Carlo Cavalar and graduate student midfielder Tom Cohen. Despite this, AE all-conference rookie selection Gillon and leading scorer Randazzo are expected to return. In a year when several departures left Binghamton’s outlook murky, Marco conveyed satisfaction with the squads’ overall performance this year.

“I am so proud of this team with how they played tonight and how they competed all season,” Marco said. “We have a resilient group and they are great people to work with. Our program is in a good place going forward, but we are really going to miss our nine graduating players.”