Many people say that all good things must come to an end. If you are a Binghamton University women’s soccer fan, this is the way you must feel, as the Bearcats were eliminated from the America East tournament by host Boston University 2-0 in the semifinal on Sunday.
Hoping to stay on a winning course, Binghamton traveled to Boston for a rematch against the Terriers with the intention of avenging their 2-0 defeat on Oct. 28. Unfortunately, the second-ranked Terriers (10-6-3) proved up to defending this task and made sure that the Bearcats fell one game short of the conference title game. Boston University will now play New Hampshire in the title game.
‘[Going to the championship game] feels great because we have a great group of girls who work very hard,’ said Terrier coach Nancy Feldman in Monday’s Boston University Daily Free Press. ‘Playing Binghamton last week helped us to think about different ways to attack and defend them.’
After being crowned America East champions in 2004, Binghamton had been eliminated from the tournament the last two years in shootout losses to Maine (2005) and New Hampshire (2006). However, their luck had changed recently as they defeated the defending America East champion Hartford Hawks last Thursday to advance to this showdown with Boston University. The second ranked Terriers and the sixth ranked Bearcats played a match that eerily mirrored the previous Sunday’s events, the Bearcats (3-12-4) and Terriers played a game that featured goals by the same scorers, and resulting in the same final score.
After playing an even game for the opening 30 minutes, Boston University broke the tie in the 31st minute when leading scorer Marisha Schumacher-Hodge took a feed from senior Lauren Basham and drove it into the far right corner past Bearcat goalie Jen McEachron.
Schumacher-Hodge, who last week was named to the America East All Conference team, now has 13 points on the season, including four goals.
Sophomore defender Casey Brown put the game out of reach when she took a pass from sophomore Mara Osher and put it past a diving McEachron to make the score 2-0 early in the second half. McEachron finished with four saves on fifteen shots.
The goal by Brown, the America East Defender of the Year, was her team-leading fifth of the year, which ties her for fifth in the conference.
Just a week earlier, the Bearcats were defeated by Boston by a score of 2-0 on goals by Schumacher-Hodge and Brown. However, in that game, Brown scored the game winner and Schumacher-Hodge the insurance tally.
Boston University’s senior goalkeeper Christina Reuter, the America East Goalkeeper of the Year, made two saves on 11 Binghamton shots and recorded her fifth shutout of the season.
Binghamton’s formidable one-two scoring combination of senior forwards Kim Povill and Danielle White, both playing in their final game, was shut down by the Terrier defense, which held Povill to four shots, which led the team. White did not register a shot.