Junior midfielder Matt Narode remembers the first time he felt a little bit of doubt creep in. The Binghamton men’s soccer team had just returned from an unsuccessful trip to Florida, sporting a 1-4-2 record after seven games. Last year at that time, the team was 5-1-1 and ranked No. 20 in the country.

Funny how winning erases all doubt.

Binghamton’s best-ever six wins in America East play have put the Bearcats in first place, with a chance to win the regular season title with a victory over Vermont this Saturday at West Gym Field, where they have gone undefeated in their last 10 home games. It will be the regular season finale for both teams.

The winner gets to hoist the regular season trophy and, more importantly, receives home-field advantage throughout the AE tournament. College soccer doesn’t get much better than this.

The Bearcats have the luxury of a one-point lead over the Catamounts in the standings and can earn the title with a win or a draw, but Vermont needs to win the game outright. Don’t expect Binghamton to play tentatively, though.

“No chance [of playing tentatively], we are playing to win that game,” said head coach Paul Marco. “We don’t have a tentative team. We have a team that likes to play soccer. They like to compete and get in your face. They like to play up-tempo soccer. If we came out tentative, that would be totally out of character for us.”

“We still want a win,” Narode echoed. “We don’t want to be in a position at the end of the game with the score tied, fighting for a draw in the last couple of minutes. It would be great to go and get a goal or two and put Vermont on their heels, trying to catch up.”

Vermont, a dangerous offensive team, was the preseason pick to win the conference by league coaches, including Marco. Catamount head coach Jesse Cormier was Marco’s assistant at West Virginia.

“Their strength is their two front-runners and their attacking midfielder,” Marco said. “And their two wide players are very good. They moved their leading goal-scorer from last year [Lee Stephane Kouadio] to the flank position and they try to isolate him 1-on-1. We’ll make sure we’ll have cover wherever Lee is; he’s very dangerous 1-on-1 off the dribble.”

Binghamton, in contrast, was picked to finish fourth after graduating several key players. But senior midfielder Ibrahim Yusuf offered an explanation for why the team performed well, despite its loss of players such as Graham Munro and Danilo.

“I think this year we embraced our roles quicker than people expected us to, and things have been rolling our way in the conference, too,” Yusuf said.

Despite winning two America East titles, the Bearcats have yet to capture a regular season title. Even with all the roster turnover, that goal is finally within reach this year.

“Even when the chips were down back in mid-September, when everyone thought we were down and out …,” Marco said. “… I believed all year that we would be in a position like we are now, and I think our guys have made that come true.”

Game time is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at West Gym Field.