In order for the Binghamton University men’s soccer team to run its unbeaten streak to four games, it knew it would have to overcome a difficult obstacle on the road at Niagara University.
That obstacle ended up being the largest one that the Bearcats have ever overcome.
Binghamton (2-4-2) fell behind 2-0 to Niagara, but stormed back behind strong efforts from its underclassmen to defeat the Purple Eagles 4-2, marking the first time in the program’s Division I history that the team overcame a two-goal deficit to win a match.
The match was scoreless until Niagara struck gold on its first shot of the game at the 22:32 mark. Just over three minutes later, the Purple Eagles put their second shot in the back of the net off a deflection to put the Bearcats down by two.
‘We gave up a corner kick and were just caught sleeping,’ Bearcats head coach Paul Marco said. ‘I don’t think that the guys took that moment that seriously. I don’t see that happening again.’
Marco also explained that despite the two-goal hole, the Bearcats were the ones dominating the field of play.
‘They [Niagara] weren’t really in the game that much. They didn’t get across midfield with much of the ball, they just weren’t threatening our goal at all. They only had two shots in the first half.’
The Purple Eagles had awakened the proverbial sleeping giant, prompting the Bearcats to come back with a vengeance. Less than two minutes after getting into a 2-0 hole, sophomore forward Jake Keegan took a feed from redshirt freshman midfielder Chris Hobbs to cut the lead in half. Just four minutes later, Hobbs tallied his own goal to tie the score.
‘We’ve been down twice before,’ Marco said. ‘We were down to Penn State by two goals and we came back to tie the game 3-3, then we were down against Colgate and responded well to tie that game ‘ For us to go down 2-0 and then score three goals in the half, just a fantastic response by the guys.’
The Bearcats scored their third goal in less than 16 minutes with a score from sophomore forward Adam Whitehead with under two minutes to go in the first half. Whitehead took a pass from redshirt freshman back Tommy Klim and sniped an 18-yard shot into the upper left corner of the net to beat the goalkeeper and give BU the lead.
The insurance goal was put home by another young athlete, freshman midfielder Tommy Moon, who fielded a pass from freshman forward Luke Halberg and snuck in a shot just inside the far post.
Marco also noted the skill with which the four goals were tallied, all coming on expert plays.
‘We scored four unbelievable strikes; all four goals were first-class goals.’
Redshirt freshman goalie Chris Hayen finished the day with four saves, and the Bearcats outshot Niagara 22-12 on the day. The four goals was Binghamton’s highest scoring output of the season. After an 0-4 start, the Bearcats are unbeaten (2-0-2) since snapping the losing streak.
Every Bearcat goal, assist and save made on the day was by a first- or second-year player.
‘We have a young team,’ Marco said. ‘We have 21 underclassmen and we only have six upperclassmen ‘ This is probably the youngest team I’ve ever had at Binghamton.’
The Bearcats’ next stop is at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, their first conference match of the year. During the 2009 regular season, Binghamton dismantled UMBC 4-0, but in the America East tournament, the Retrievers defeated the Bearcats 2-1, partly thanks to a red card assessed to Liam Carson that forced Binghamton to play a man down for 25 minutes. This time around, UMBC may be a different team, but the feeling of last season’s bitterness is still there.
‘All the coaches would say no, it’s not going to factor in, but of course you remember previous matches,’ Marco said in remembrance of last year. ‘Does it matter on Saturday during the match? No. Can we use it for a little extra motivation? Of course.’
The Retrievers have compiled a 4-3-0 record and are coming off a 2-1 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson University.
‘UMBC is a very good team,’ Marco said. ‘They’ve got some very skillful players who we need to get help around. It’s not going to be one against one on Saturday, it’s going to be us against them ‘ I think that our younger guys will shine, I think that our experienced guys are gonna be the ones we have to rely on a little bit and get us ready for that challenge.’
While Binghamton has played eight matches already, conference matches are always a completely different atmosphere altogether, according to Marco.
‘It’s going to be a challenge similar to some of the earlier games, but it’s conference, so every moment is going to matter. Every set piece we get in attacking could be the one to win it, so we’ll just have to be sharp ‘ The guys are ready for the weekend.’
The Bearcats’ conference-opening match at UMBC is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday.