With all the injuries, all the departed players from the class of 2006 and all the other talent in the league, the Bearcats were never supposed to be here. They were never supposed to be in first place with one game to go in conference play, or on the brink of clinching the America East regular season championship and the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

But that’s precisely the position the Binghamton men’s soccer team (8-6-3, 6-1 AE) finds itself in after a 1-0 victory over Albany (7-7-2, 5-3-0 AE) in the state capital Wednesday. The Bearcats won on the strength of strong defensive play, including Jason Stenta’s sixth shutout in seven starts and Joey Neilson’s goal — his first of the season — with just under 30 minutes remaining in regulation.

To win the conference, BU will have to down second-place Vermont on Saturday, but with this win, the Bearcats have guaranteed themselves at least the second seed in the AE tournament, as well as a first-round bye.

“It was fantastic. Going there and having to get the result to secure the 2 seed at minimum and play on for the regular season title was great,” said head coach Paul Marco.

Binghamton played well in the first half, outshooting the Great Danes 3-1 as Neilson made his first attempt to score on the day, banging one off the bar a few minutes in, but the game would go to halftime scoreless.

“The first half, we could’ve easily been up by two, maybe three,” Marco said.

Still scoreless at the 61:31 mark, senior midfielder Bryan Arnault and junior midfielder Matt Narode played the ball to Neilson on the right wing just inside the box, and Neilson took care of the rest, netting the game’s lone score into the upper left corner.

Albany would not go quietly, however, coming at Binghamton hard in the second half and outshooting the Bearcats 5-4.

“For maybe a 15-minute span in the second half, they absolutely came at us with everything,” Marco said.

Enter Stenta, BU’s redshirt freshman phenom, who shut the door with four saves, the most crucial of which coming against Albany senior Yan Gbolo, the Great Danes’ premier forward. Gbolo worked his way by freshman midfielder Kyle Kucharski, had Stenta 1-on-1 and shot to his right — Stenta’s left — but Stenta dove to save the game and the lead.

“I stayed focused the whole game and just thought to myself ‘take it on yourself, get a first-round bye so that we can get guys like Kyle Antos more rest,’” Stenta said.

Indeed, with the first-round bye, some of the many injured players BU is carrying may be able to return for the playoffs, including senior captain Kyle Antos.

And regardless of what happens on Saturday in the regular season finale and the battle for first place, the team has overcome considerable odds to get themselves where they are today.

Men’s Soccer Notes: Ross Riley, a prominent figure in the Binghamton soccer community, passed away this week. His funeral was held yesterday, and in attendance were many of the men’s soccer team members, including Kyle Antos, Justin Leskow and Adam Chavez, as well as assistant coach Joe Howe, all of whom Riley coached. A vehement Bearcats supporter and a high school coach at Union Endicott, Riley sadly lost his fight with cancer.

“He taught more than soccer; he taught life lessons, and I’m thankful to him,” said men’s soccer head coach Paul Marco.