Hope of a first-round bye in the conference tournament for the Binghamton women’s soccer team disappeared Thursday night, as the Bearcats fell to the second-place Hartford Hawks 2-0 at Hartford. Hartford won the game by scoring two goals in the game’s final 22 minutes.

The loss snaps the Bearcats’ two-game winning streak and snaps a streak in which goaltender Kristie Bowers had allowed just one goal in her past five games. Bowers, who was named the East Coast Athletic Association’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week made zero saves.

The loss drops Binghamton to fourth place in the conference, but thanks to Vermont’s loss to New Hampshire, Binghamton has clinched a playoff birth. The seeding for the Bearcats is still unknown, because even though BU’s season is over, every other team in the conference will play this Sunday. The Bearcats can finish no higher than third, and no lower than fifth, depending on the outcome of Sunday’s action.

The America East playoffs begin Friday, Oct. 27, at either Boston’s Nickerson Field or Hartford’s Al-Marzock Field, depending on the outcome of Sunday’s game between the two squads.