The Bearcats feasted on New Jersey Tech in a 3-1 victory Tuesday night, giving the Binghamton University women’s soccer team its first victory of the season, its first victory at the Bearcat Sports Complex and head coach Jeff Leightman the 100th win of his career.
While Binghamton was trailing 1-0 at the end of the first half, it was the bottom of the barely visible scoreboard of the new BSC ‘ the only thing that was not updated in the revamping of the complex ‘ which told the real story. It read that the shots were 23 to ? in favor of Binghamton. The No. 2 on the scoreboard that was meant to indicate how many shots New Jersey had was blown out, resembling a question mark instead.
The defense, led by sophomore defender Nicole Montoya, was stellar all night long. The entire game appeared to be played on one half of the field, as Binghamton was either on the offensive attack or the defense was standing its ground, performing well-timed tackles and making sure the ball was never on the wrong side of the midfield Bearcats logo.
Behind this filthy defense, Leightman’s recurring statement about his team reigned true.
‘We have been playing consistently well and have put together some really good games, some really good halves,’ Leightman said. ‘But to this point [we] had never gotten that goal or that moment, so we hadn’t gotten the result. We will just need to get that first result and we will take off from there.’
Trailing 1-0 at the half was daunting for a BU team which controlled the game from the get go, but a quick pass into the box from senior Danielle White to sophomore Amanda Casares set up what would be both the equalizing and energizing strike. With Binghamton finally on the board and the game tied 1-1, you could see the Bearcats begin to play with extra bounces in their strides and an unwavering focus to make sure the score reflected the overall flow of the game.
‘Soccer is one of the only sports in which you can dominate the majority of the game and still not come away with the win,’ Leightman said. ‘This win speaks to the character of the team. We were discouraged by the early goal, but we came together at halftime. Speaking it out and Amanda’s goal really settled us down.’
Casares’ goal began the bleeding and the Bearcats offense, which seemed to be hibernating for most of this season, came to life, scoring and firing shots in rapid succession. A well-placed ball from senior Kim Povill split the defense and left senior Tricia Reed in primo position to aid the ball to the back of the net, giving Binghamton a lead which they would never give back.
A few minutes later in the half, freshman Casey Pedersen set the ball in motion to White, who snuck the ball between the keeper and the near post for a 3-1 lead, which would end up being the margin of victory.
As far as his personal accomplishment goes, Leightman joked that he ‘would have loved for it to come 10 games ago.’
‘This is by no means a personal achievement,’ he added. ‘Once the game begins, I’m not nearly as important as the girls out on the field. We’re a family and it’s nice to share this distinction with everyone who makes up BU women’s soccer.’