A year ago, the Binghamton women’s soccer team picked up a crucial home win against UMass Lowell to snap a three-game winless streak. This year, the Bearcats (1-10-1, 0-3 America East) find themselves in a similar situation, heading into its road contest against the River Hawks (3-9-0, 0-2 AE) on Sunday.
But this time around, the Bearcats are carrying a 10-game losing streak into the matchup and are in desperate need of a conference victory.
Having dropped its last two outings against UMBC and Maine, UMass Lowell is also searching for its first America East victory of the 2015 campaign. UML and Binghamton currently occupy the bottom two slots of the AE standings, making Sunday’s matchup critical for both squads.
“Our game coming up at UMass is going to be a significant test for us and an important opportunity for us,” BU head coach Sarah McClellan said. “I’m sure UMass feels the same way.”
Binghamton will look to build upon the strong performance of its backfield in Sunday’s loss to Hartford. The Bearcats held the Hawks, the AE leader in goals per game, to just one score during the contest.
“It wasn’t our sharpest technical performance, which hindered our chances,” McClellan said about the loss. “But the defending teamwork was outstanding.”
Defense has certainly been BU’s strong point thus far, holding opponents to one goal or fewer in six of its 12 games this season. But the lack of offensive support has put immense pressure on the defense, leading to easy goals on the Binghamton net.
“Our team defending was quite good in the first half [against Hartford],” McClellan said. “But due to fatigue, we had a couple of letdowns in a row in the second half that led to their goal.”
Binghamton has labored through a sluggish offensive season, racking up a conference-worst five total goals for an anemic 0.42 goals per game average. UMass Lowell, by comparison, holds a 1.17 goals per game average. While that figure is only the sixth-best in the conference, it still manages to outpace Binghamton’s goal production by over 100 percent.
But despite the Bearcats’ extreme offensive struggles in 2015, the coaching staff looks for the team to make the necessary improvements to capture victories.
“The team has played the past two games at a much higher level and have put themselves in a position to win,” McClellan said. “Our group knows the improvement is there and the next step is to get the result. We have [had] a whole week to get a lot of scrimmaging in [and] training to prepare for that next step.”
Kickoff against UMass Lowell is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. from Cushing Field Complex in Lowell, Massachusetts.