Score.
The Binghamton University women’s soccer team couldn’t do it in its first four games. That all changed in the team’s two weekend games; this time, it was their opponents who couldn’t score.
The Bearcats took down Niagara on Friday, 2-0, for its first win (and first scoring) of the season, then blanked Buffalo on Sunday, 1-0, the team’s third shutout. The Bearcats have allowed just two goals in the past five games. Goalkeepers Jen McEachron and Erin Iman split time in each game and made a combined total of 13 saves over the weekend.
“Our team played extremely well,” said Bearcats head coach Sarah McClellan. “We worked for each other, we moved off the ball, we kept possession of the ball and we got a lot of chances.”
But the biggest accomplishment of the day might not have been the victory itself, but how the Bearcats finally put the ball in the back of the net.
The first goal of the year came from senior midfielder Amanda Casares, who took a thru ball from sophomore striker AnnMarie Rizzi and booted a 20-yard blast over the Niagara goalkeeper.
“We didn’t have the best start to the game, [but] once we scored that goal, you could see our energy rise,” McClellan said.
Then freshman forward Jamie Holliday scored her first collegiate goal on a breakaway opportunity after senior back Erica Goldberg won a header to spring Holliday loose at the 55:45 mark.
“We had a really good week of practice prior to the Niagara game,” McClellan said, “And that’s part of the process. We might not get the results we want early on, as we’re improving each day.”
And it showed, too. According to McClellan, the quality opportunities were abundant this time around.
“The score could have been 4-0 honestly,” she said. “We had extremely good chances. We’re being a little more selective with our shots, I would like us to take more shots, but our shot selection is quite picky right now.”
Binghamton was outshot once again, this time by a 16-7 margin, but the difference in this match was that Niagara’s shots weren’t of nearly the same quality as those of the Bearcats.
“The reason Niagara had so many shots is they were just shooting anything and everything, and they were going straight to our keepers,” McClellan explained. “Our keepers did make some nice saves as well, but the shot margin really indicates that Niagara was shooting bad shots.”
Two days later, it was junior back Stefani Knopick knocking in a free kick against Buffalo to seal the victory. After freshman Lisa Campbell dribbled down the flank and got fouled hard, the ball was stopped for a free kick. While Buffalo was trying to get organized, Knopick caught the Bulls off guard and blasted the shot past the goalkeeper.
“It was a perfect shot,” McClellan said. “It was a really good recognition on her part. [She] caught them all off guard.”
Despite two huge victories, the team knows that there are still a lot of matches left, including the conference games, which are what really matters when it comes to playing postseason soccer.
“The team energy is very high,” McClellan explained. “We’re gaining confidence, but I wouldn’t say that we were outright celebrating [the wins] because we know that there is work to be done and we haven’t achieved our goal yet. So we were happy, we were pleased with our performance and our effort, we were pleased to get the results as a reward for our efforts and we were just happy to come home as well.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to square off against the Temple Owls this Friday at home, the team’s final non-conference warm-up before America East play begins. It is just the second home game of the season.
“We’re looking forward to playing at home,” McClellan said. “It’s only our second home game this year, and a Friday night game is always fun to play under the lights. Temple is a good team; they’re out of the Atlantic 10, a strong conference. We’d really like to come out with a strong performance Friday night and keep moving in the right direction as we get ready for conference play.”
The first conference matchup is scheduled at Boston University on Sunday. Last year’s game against Boston was played at the Bearcats Sports Complex, and it drew the largest crowd in women’s soccer history at 946 fans. But this matchup will be an away game; the first home conference match will take place on Oct. 4 against Stony Brook.
“We’re looking to get good results when it comes to conference time,” McClellan said. “Until then, we’re looking to improve, execute and do all those little things in a process to get us prepared.”