The fans that watched Binghamton’s men’s soccer team (10-3-0) battle Colgate (6-4-2) on Tuesday got a serious case of d√É©j√Ɇ vu.
BU senior Matt Narode scored two nearly identical first-half goals to down the visiting Raiders 2-0 at the Bearcats Sports Complex.
Just minutes into the game, junior Darren McAllister took a hard shot from outside the box. Colgate keeper Matt Barton left the goal to make the save and barreled over junior Ryan Tomko in the process. But Barton couldn’t hold onto the ball and Matt Narode scored on the deflection.
‘I thought it was a 50-50 ball, but the goalie got to it first and knocked me in the head,’ said Tomko, who recovered in time to see the ball hit the back of the net.
Twenty minutes later, Adam Chavez hit another hard shot at Barton, who knocked it away with his fist. And again, Narode found himself with the ball and an open goal.
‘I was just kind of hanging out at the edge of the box, hoping for something to come out,’ Narode said. ‘I got lucky twice; the ball came to my left foot twice.’
Narode, injured for five games this season, is finally fully recovered from the sprained ankle that forced him to the sidelines while his team debuted at the BSC.
While Binghamton was dominant for 90 minutes, Colgate’s usual starting goalkeeper, Dave Cappuccio, did not start or play for the Raiders. After a big game against Lafayette last weekend, Raider head coach Erik Ronning wanted to rest his starter during the non-league match against Binghamton.
‘We just played an emotional game against a great team on Sunday and won,’ Ronning said. ‘I’m just giving the other goalkeeper some playing experience, just in case our starter goes down, we’ll have someone who has actually started and played a high-level game.’
But Ronning doesn’t blame Barton for the two goals he allowed.
‘I trust him; he’s a good goalie,’ Ronning said. ‘The goals that were given up, he couldn’t have stopped.’
BU head coach Paul Marco agreed.
‘We talked about that in the pre-game, that their goalkeeper might give us a rebound or second chance,’ Marco said. ‘But our guys are doing such a good job of shooting on target with power, and for the goalkeeper, it is tough to catch those cleanly.’
The Bearcats almost added a third goal in the dominant first half. Sophomore Cameron Keith hit a near-perfect strike to the top of the goal, but Barton made a jumping save to deny the striker his seventh goal of the season.
Binghamton out-shot Colgate 10-1 in the first half. The Bearcats also possessed the ball for most of the match. Marco, however, said he thinks that kind of play can be dangerous.
‘Possession’s a two-edged sword: you want to possess the ball so you can create scoring chances, but you don’t want to possess the ball so much that you turn the ball over in bad spots,’ Marco said. ‘When you’re possessing it, you’re getting ready to attack, so your team’s shape is different. You’re not ready to defend.’
Prior to the match, Colgate was ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic regional rankings.