Coming off a win against divisional foe University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the Binghamton University women’s soccer team looked to continue its winning ways as it faced off against America East powerhouse Boston University, who entered the weekend 5-0 in conference. This much-anticipated match was a showdown of last year’s conference championship match, which went in Boston’s favor. This time around was no different, as Boston topped Binghamton 4-0, the same exact score as the championship game.
Binghamton got off to a slow but strong start, playing well defensively, but Boston attacked first. Boston’s Lisa Kevorkian broke through Binghamton’s defense in the 22nd minute to score against outstretched freshman goalkeeper Carrie Martin. Binghamton tried to answer back within minutes with a shot at goal courtesy of senior Stefani Knopick, but she was denied.
Almost five minutes later Boston scored again thanks to Kevorkian, her second goal of the game and 12th on the season.
‘You do the best you can,’ said head coach Sarah McClellan. ‘You’re going to have to have solid defending, and she might get herself free a couple of times because she is a good player and you have to know that you’re going to have a couple of close calls in the game.’
BU’s offense struggled in the first half, managing only three shots at goal compared to Boston’s eight. At the end of the first half Boston held a 2-0 advantage.
The Bearcats visibly stepped up their play in the second half. Their offense came out firing and almost scored in the 46th minute; unfortunately, the shot sailed just outside the box.
‘We had it set up a couple of times, and either that final pass didn’t get connected or didn’t get through, but had it, we would have had a couple of goals on the scoreboard,’ McClellan said.
Binghamton continued to step up its play in the second half, but Boston left its mark by scoring two more times in three minutes at the end of the game against a tired Bearcat defense.
The Terriers outshot the Bearcats 18-8 during the game, and Martin made six saves. With the win, Boston (12-5, 6-0 AE) earned at least a tie for the regular season conference title.
This game was also senior day for the Bearcats. The team’s three seniors ‘ Stefani Knopick, Leora Kenney and Erin Iman ‘ were honored prior to the start of the match. This was a bittersweet event for the team because both Iman and Kenney suffered season-ending injuries earlier in the season, suddenly ending their soccer careers as Bearcats. Iman and Kenney were given a final chance to take the field, beginning the match in the starting lineup for the last time before being subbed out after the opening whistle.
‘Leora and Erin, they mean determination and they have been so positive in how they approached their obstacles,’ McClellan said.
Iman made 52 saves last year with a .800 save percentage, and Kenney had a key goal against UMBC last year.
‘They mean a whole lot to our team and we just wanted to show our appreciation for them,’ McClellan said.
Binghamton (4-10-1, 2-3-1 AE) is set to take on the University of New Hampshire at home this Thursday. This is an important game that the Bearcats must win if they want their playoff hopes to stay alive. The Bearcats are currently in seventh place in the conference.
‘Thursday will be huge; Thursday is all we care about right now. It’s all we’re looking forward to, and we’re going to get after it in our training and we will get ourselves read to play,’ McClellan said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.