Last week, men’s soccer head coach Paul Marco said his upperclassmen needed to step up in order to beat Hartwick. They did that, but Marco probably didn’t expect the star of the game to be a redshirt freshman.
Freshman goalkeeper Jason Stenta made six saves and posted his second consecutive shutout, propelling Binghamton (2-4-3) to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Hartwick Hawks (3-4-1) on Saturday at West Gym Field.
Stenta was tested a number of times over the course of the game, several times by Hartwick forward John Paul Boyle. With three minutes remaining in regulation, Boyle received a cross from the right corner and put a shot on goal, but Stenta made his best stop of the day to preserve the lead and the game.
“Stenta played very well in goal,” Marco said. “He also kept them tight on defense.”
After taking five shots with nothing to show for it, the Bearcats capitalized on an opportunity 15 minutes into the second half. Senior forward Peter Sgueglia juked two defenders along the right field line, then sprinted toward the goal, finding senior midfielder Ibrahim Yusuf, who netted the only goal of the game. It was Yusuf’s first goal of the season.
“Pete dribbled the ball down the line and I assumed he was going to cross it early, so I ran in,” Yusuf said. “I saw that he still had the ball, so then I just ran to the near post, and somehow the ball got through to me, and then I just turned it and shot it.”
Ironically, the game was won in the exact same way last season’s Hartwick match was, with Yusuf scoring off the feed from Sgueglia last year as well to lead the Bearcats to a 1-0 victory.
Sgueglia’s energy and speed were welcome changes for the Bearcats, who have had trouble turning close games into wins.
“A lot of the guys have been working a lot harder, and have been working for the full [game],” Yusuf said. “Rather than playing for 60 minutes, we’ve been playing for a little bit longer, trying to close out the win rather than merely getting a tie.”
Binghamton’s defense looked porous in the first half, and Hartwick was able to take several one-on-one shots against Stenta.
“They dragged our defenders out of positions,” Marco said. “[At halftime,] we talked about doing a better job of not letting them get behind us.”
The defensive adjustments worked wonders, as the Bearcats limited the Hawks to two shots in the second half of play after allowing six in the first half.
“We solved it by pinching in our wide guys,” Stenta said. After the game, it was announced that Stenta had earned the starting job for the rest of the season.
Though the Bearcats looked convincing on Saturday, Marco does not think his team is nearly as good as he thinks it can be — yet.
“Our guys are getting a little bit better,” he said. “We haven’t turned the corner yet, but we’re headed in the right direction.”