It may not be exactly Yankees-Red Sox at Ohiri Field on Saturday, but one of New York’s premier schools, Binghamton University, will be taking on the crown jewel of Massachusetts, and perhaps the entire nation in the Harvard Crimson, as the quest for a NCAA men’s soccer title begins.

Though it is only the Bearcats’ sixth season at the Division I level, 2006 marks their second berth into the 48-team national tournament. Binghamton’s first appearance in 2003 saw the Bearcats defeat Fairleigh Dickinson University, ranked No. 15 in the nation at the time, in the first round before falling in the second round to St. Louis.

This time around, with Binghamton facing a No. 13 ranked Crimson team (13-4-0), an offense that led the nation and an average of 2.59 goals per game, the Bearcats (9-6-5) may need even more magic than they had in 2003 to advance. BU head coach Paul Marco, despite his admission of being the underdog on Saturday, felt his team is capable of the upset.

“On paper, they might be a notch better than us, but I don’t put a lot of clout into paper reads anyway,” Marco said. “In men’s soccer, on any given day, anybody beats anybody.”

For Harvard, this will mark the storied school’s 12th appearance in the tournament; the Crimson have never advanced beyond the semifinals and only made their last trip to the NCAAs in 2001. To earn their tickets to the tournament, Binghamton won an automatic bid with the America East tournament championship it captured a week ago, while Harvard won eight straight matches on its way to a regular season conference title in the Ivy League, which does not have a postseason tournament.

The most dangerous player to take the field will be Harvard’s senior forward Charles Altchek, a native of Rye, N.Y., and graduate of Horace Mann. The team captain, who both led the conference in goals per game and received the Ivy League Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season, ranks No. 18 in the nation in points per game and leads the potent Crimson attack that scored 44 goals in 17 games, 20 more than their opponents.

“Obviously we are capable of scoring goals and we like to play soccer in an attractive offensive manner,” said Harvard head coach John Kerr.

The Bearcats’ style of play is more defensive, with red-shirt freshman goalie Jason Stenta ranking No. 15 in the nation in goals against average. The team did struggle offensively at times this season, scoring only one more goal, 19, than it has allowed, 18.

Binghamton would of course rather play at home, considering the team has not lost at West Gym Field in 13 games dating back to last season, and Harvard’s home record will not make things any easier. The Crimson has lost at home once this year, and that was to the tournament’s top seed, the Duke Blue Devils.

“With our similar surroundings that we’re used to and also having our pro Harvard crowd behind us … anytime you can get a home game in a tournament-style fashion, it’s definitely an advantage for the home team,” Kerr said.

BU has stated a simple game plan to combat the hostile environment: get on the board early. Harvard is 8-0 this season when the Crimson scored first.

“I think we’re gonna have to play great defense, and I think we’re going to have to score first,” said BU senior captain Kyle Antos. “They’re definitely going to put away their opportunities if we give them that; our goal is to not give them opportunities, definitely.”

And despite playing a school as well-known as Harvard, the Bearcats say they are not intimidated, having faced reigning national champion Maryland early this season.

“I think that the Bearcats will definitely show up for the match, and I don’t think it’ll be a thing where we’re expecting to just play — we’re expecting to beat them,” Marco said.

The winner of Saturday’s 1 p.m. match at Ohiri Field will head to Los Angeles on Wednesday to take on No. 8 UCLA in the second round.