STONY BROOK ‘ First-place Binghamton University clinched its second straight America East regular season championship and the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament with a 1-0 win at Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon.
The victory guaranteed the Bearcats (13-5-0, 5-3-0 AE) a first-round bye and at least one home game at the Bearcats Sports Complex, where head coach Paul Marco’s Bearcats are undefeated this season.
‘This was a more important game than just a road win,’ Marco said. ‘It was one that we needed to secure the championship. The guys were certainly pushing hard to secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage.’
The game was a rematch of the 2005 America East Championship, when host Stony Brook defeated Binghamton in penalty kicks to win the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
But this game, which had a definite playoff feel, ended much more happily for the Bearcats, who picked up their first conference win of the year outside of the BSC.
‘It was relieving because we haven’t been performing the best we could on the road so far,’ said midfielder Cody Germain. ‘It was a nice change to win.’
Prior to Saturday, the Bearcats were 0-3 in America East road games, having been outscored 5-1 in the three losses. But in a driving rain at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, a late first-half goal turned out to be all the team needed to clinch the regular season title.
The decisive score came in the 42nd minute when Barry Neville served up an in-swinging floater from about 28 yards out on the left side. With heavy winds pushing the ball toward the net and a group of Bearcats, led by midfielder Justin Leskow, converging toward the endline, SBU keeper David Ditrich was left flat-footed as the ball skipped into the right side of the goal.
‘I know Leskow went up to get the header, but it was too high for him,’ Germain said. ‘[Ditrich] was expecting him to get the header. [When it went in], I was surprised as well ‘ it was a great goal, it was a good shot.’
Marco saw it the same way.
‘When players are just running into the box, players are trying to clear it, people are trying to get it with any body part ‘ it just went over and it was on target,’ the coach said. ‘I thought the goalkeeper saw it late and didn’t have time to react to it.’
In the second half, with the wind in their face, the Bearcats were able to adapt to the conditions by taking the air out of the ball, controlling possession for much of the half. Marco praised his midfield, especially senior midfielder J.P. Ahoua.
‘They’ve got two guys who I think could both win midfielder of the year,’ said Marco. ‘J.P. Ahoua was the man of the match in my eyes.’
The stellar midfield play kept the ball mostly out of the hands of junior goalkeeper Jason Stenta who, despite his nine saves, was only challenged a couple of times.
‘I thought the stats were a bit off ‘ they had Stenta making nine saves, but a lot of those were balls that just kind of blew in from the wind,’ Marco said. ‘There were no ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ saves ‘ maybe two.’
But the weather was enough of a challenge for the keeper, who picked up his 11th shutout of the season. In the first half, Stenta bounced a punt across the Stony Brook endline. After halftime, it was difficult to carry the ball even 40 yards.
‘The second half it was real hard ‘ you’re always pinned in your own half,’ Stenta said. ‘The conditions were really bad for some of the game, but I guess we had to deal with it.’
The keeper’s biggest challenge came at the 22-minute mark when he misplayed a punch off a corner kick, leaving SBU’s Martin Lynch a point-blank volley from about 15 yards. Stenta dove to his left and got a glove on the ball, pushing it out to his left.
It was the last real scoring chance the Seawolves ‘ who were eliminated from playoff contention ‘ would have.
‘Overall our defense played really well in controlling their forwards,’ the goalkeeper said. ‘They didn’t really have many attempts.’
But the Bearcats made sure to finish the full 90 minutes before initiating their celebration ‘ they had seen a 1-0 lead disappear at Stony Brook before.
‘At halftime a couple of the guys were reminding some of the other guys how bad a feeling it was to lose the last time we were there [in 2005],’ Germain said.
In that championship contest, the Bearcats led 1-0 until the 87th minute, when the Seawolves tallied the equalizer. That year, SBU would go on to win the title in penalty kicks.
This time, the ‘Cats were the ones left celebrating on the well-kept football pitch.
‘I think any time you are the champion in any sport, or in any area, there are people who bring their ‘A’ game because you’re going to bring out the best in them,’ Marco said. ‘Knowing that it was going to be a difficulty as far as competitiveness [this year], I thought our guys rose above it. I’m extremely proud.’
And now the Bearcats return home to a rabid crowd. They will await the winner of Saturday’s Hartford/UMBC quarterfinal, with the semifinal kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m. next Wednesday.
‘We’re hopeful that having an afternoon game, we still get the crowds that we’ve been drawing on the weekends or at night. We’d like all the students to come down and cheer us on,’ Marco said, especially thanking a group of fans he called the ‘Hooligans.’
‘I’d like to pick up some pizzas for that group [of ‘Hooligans’] myself. I want to give our guys the best shot of winning that match ‘ there’s no doubt our guys have been playing better with the energy of the home crowd,’ Marco said.
‘We can’t wait,’ Germain said. ‘It’s an incredible feeling to play at home, especially in the new stadium. That was our No. 1 incentive to win this game ‘ we get to go home and play in our element, and just win.’