Last season, the Binghamton University women’s soccer team had to hang its playoff fate on an overtime regular season finale. This year, the Bearcats can breathe a little easier for the final week of the season.
Binghamton (7-6-1, 4-2 America East) clinched its sixth consecutive America East tournament berth with a 2-0 victory over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Sunday afternoon. The Bearcats have two regular-season games remaining in which they will try to achieve a higher playoff seed and possibly a home playoff game.
In addition to celebrating the postseason berth, Sunday’s game was Senior Day for the Bearcats, commemorating the collegiate careers of the five seniors on the team, all of whom were in the starting lineup.
“It turned out to be a really great Senior Day,” said Bearcats head coach Sarah McClellan. “This senior class has really been instrumental in moving our program forward. We’re having a good season this year, but that’s a byproduct of the hard work that they’ve put in the three years before. I’m really proud of our senior class; they’re good students and good athletes, and are gonna go on to do a lot of successful things when they leave here.”
The seniors that were recognized included team captain Amanda Casares, goalkeeper Jen McEachron, back Nicole Montoya, forward Emily Cirillo and back Erica Goldberg.
The first goal of the game was set up by two of those seniors.
Just two minutes into the match, Casares ripped a shot that UMBC goalkeeper Mo Van Vlerah was able to stop. Van Vlerah couldn’t contain the rebound, however, and Cirillo tapped it in for her first goal of the season.
In the 58th minute, sophomore back Dani Raske threaded a corner kick pass in front of the UMBC net that was headed in by junior back Stefani Knopick to secure the victory.
Last year, the Bearcats were on the brink of losing their postseason berth on the final day of the regular season before upending the University of Vermont 1-0 in overtime.
“It feels great to not have to wait ‘til the last game,” Casares said. “We took care of business and we’re in it early this year.”
“It’s nice to know we’re in the playoffs, but I don’t think that’s something that this team is really satisfied or happy with,” McClellan said. “It’s a good comfort feeling, but we’re really looking to do well in these next two conference games.”
McEachron was also thankful to have won the match on Senior Day.
“No matter what, it’s important to the whole team, but it’s nice to finish up and get a good win on Senior Day,” she said. “We’re in the playoffs, so now we need to get our seed in the playoffs. It feels good to win.”
McEachron split time in goal with junior Erin Iman, and the pair earned their sixth shutout of the season. The two have shared the net in every game this season for the Bearcats, which has been quite a change for McEachron, who played in net for every minute of each game in 2008.
“We’re winning games, and I think Erin and I are both doing a good job,” she said of the time share. “The defense in front of us has a lot to do with why we’re being successful, so I think that it’s good and everything’s working out well right now, as long as we’re winning.”
The Bearcats’ defensive unit held UMBC without a shot until the 25th minute of the second half, and the team outshot the Retrievers 26-4. According to McClellan, it was the offensive explosiveness that improved the team’s defensive performance.
“I think our offense is what worked for our defense because we were peppering UMBC with shots all game long,” she said. “When our attacking players are really putting the full-court press on the other team, the defenders are very grateful for that and it makes their jobs nice and easy.”
Binghamton had a variety of opportunities to score throughout the contest. In the first half, freshman midfielder Emily Pape blasted a shot that Van Vlerah got a piece of, but it got by her and trickled right to the goal line before Van Vlerah snagged it. Montoya put a header just inches wide of the left goalpost. In the second half, freshman forward Candice Rowland finessed a shot past Van Vlerah, but the ball was knocked away by a UMBC defender just before crossing the goal line.
McClellan is not concerned with the missed opportunities in the match.
“It doesn’t worry me,” she said. “It’s definitely something we have to continue to work on, but I think the positive that we take from the game is that we created those chances. If we continue to create that many chances, we will do a better job finishing. Every 10 shots, we should score a goal. As long as we continue to create the shots and opportunities against better teams that we play, I don’t have any worries that we’ll start to finish those.”
Now that the Bearcats have secured a spot in the America East tournament, they are looking to keep a high seed with continued success in the final two regular-season games. Six teams make the playoffs in the conference, but if the Bearcats secure a top-three seed, they will have the opportunity to play at least one home playoff game. Binghamton is currently in third place in the conference.
The next match for the Bearcats is set to take place Thursday at 7 p.m. against Vermont at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The Catamounts will be fighting for their playoff lives, as their 1-3-2 conference record currently places them at seventh in the conference.
According to Casares, the final regular-season home game will be when the seniors will really feel the pressure.
“That’s when my senior game is and, for the rest of us, that’s when it’ll really sink in,” she said. “But we can’t take them lightly; we gotta go out and play like we have been.”
“[We need to] handle the next two games,” McEachron added.
McClellan said that Vermont will be challenging and should not be judged solely by its poor record this year.
“Vermont is a very hard-working, strong team,” she said. “Their record does not show the quality of the team that they are. They’ve played some tough opponents. We’re gonna have to be sharp and we’re gonna have to be ready to put the effort in and play a good attack-minded and high speed-of-play game. I think we will; we’re gonna have a couple days to prepare ourselves, refocus on Vermont, and looking at what we need to do against them. The girls will be ready; I think they’re very excited to get to this next game.”