Last season, the Binghamton University men’s soccer team prevailed in the America East semifinal over the one conference opponent that had managed to beat them in the regular season ‘ Boston University.
This season, the Bearcats take on UMBC ‘ not one of the three teams that managed to beat the Bearcats in conference play, but the one that, if anybody, probably should have.
‘They came down in overtime and should have won the game,’ said Binghamton coach Paul Marco of the 1-0 overtime win over the Retrievers on Oct. 10 at the Bearcats Sports Complex. ‘The guy smashes it off the post, all he had to do was tuck it past [Jason] Stenta. He kicked the paint off of it.’
The ‘he’ was Shondell Busby, a Retrievers junior midfielder who narrowly missed sealing Binghamton’s first regular season home loss since Oct. 5, 2005, with a shot off the right crossbar in the fifth minute of overtime. Less than five minutes later, junior midfielder Justin Leskow hit the game-winner for Binghamton.
If the defending AE champion and top-seeded Bearcats (13-5-0, 5-3-0 AE) allow UMBC (8-6-5, 3-3-2) another opportunity like that in Wednesday’s semifinal, scheduled for 2 p.m. at the BSC, their season will likely be over.
‘Just slowing down the ball for us will be key if they get a transition play,’ said Stenta, Binghamton’s redshirt sophomore goalkeeper whose 0.60 goals against average and 11 shutouts were conference highs this season.
Stenta, who was the hero in last year’s semifinal shootout, and Binghamton’s backfielders, led by America East Defender of the Year senior Adam Chavez and junior Liam Carson, will have to contend with the speed of UMBC ‘ perhaps the fastest team in the conference.
‘Our back four and our goalkeeper are going to have to keep a tight ship,’ Marco said. ‘They’re going to have to play within themselves and within the system we choose to play.’
The fifth-seeded Retrievers advanced to the semis on Saturday in a 5-4 shootout win over host Hartford, the fourth seed. The teams played to a 1-1 tie through regulation and two overtime periods.
UMBC is led by Andrew Gillis, who is tied for the fourth-most goals in the conference, junior forward Kevin Gnatiko and freshman forward B.J. Quigley who are both tied for seventh-most. Chavez said he was not intimidated by UMBC’s fast-break offense.
‘I don’t care, really, I don’t think the team cares who we play,’ Chavez said. ‘I think we’re going to be prepared, whoever it is ‘ We’re always strong defensively. It’s not just the defense, it always starts with the forwards coming back to the midfielders, the defenders into the goalie.’
Binghamton’s offense is anchored by AE Striker of the Year Cameron Keith, a sophomore forward who led the conference with 10 goals ‘ four more than anyone else. His 22 points were also a conference best.
Keith had three multiple goal games during the regular season, including two hat tricks, giving teams good reason to double-team him. Marco said he expects a double-team on Wednesday, and Keith said he’s ready for one.
‘You just got to be mentally quicker just to get that half yard to get a shot away, to get a half yard in for a cross,’ Keith said. ‘Just whatever it takes.’
If Keith is locked down, the pressure falls to Leskow and senior midfielder Matt Narode, who are tied for second in scoring on the team with three goals.
‘I got on the ball a lot against UMBC, had a couple good runs against their defenders,’ Leskow said. ‘I was pretty successful that game, but it’s a different game. We’ll have a different strategy coming in.’
Binghamton will likely play three up top, but Marco was tight-lipped about his in-game strategy. He said the No. 1 thing he learned from traveling to Hartford, Conn., to watch the quarterfinal match between UMBC and Hartford was that First and Last Tavern is a great restaurant.
What he did concede, however, is that Binghamton will have to turn in a better performance than it did the first time it met UMBC this season.
‘Watching the UMBC match that we played, we could have been up 4-0 in the first half,’ Marco said. ‘We were creating those types of chances. But UMBC is the type of team that if you don’t get those goals, they’ll come back to haunt you.’
Notes: Student admission is free to the game ‘ Coach Paul Marco, Jason Stenta, Adam Chavez, Cameron Keith and Justin Leskow all said Monday that being at home and playing in front of their fans, their very loud and notorious fans, is key to their success ‘ Binghamton’s last home loss, in 2005, came at the hands of ‘ who else ‘ UMBC, 1-0 in double overtime.