Unfortunately for the Binghamton women’s soccer team, that feeling of d√É.√©j√É.√† vu they experienced this weekend was not caused by a glitch in the Matrix.

For the second straight season the Bearcats headed into the conference tournament playing their best soccer of the season. For the second straight year they believed they were the better team on the field. And for the second straight year, after playing to a scoreless draw throughout regulation and two overtime periods, they had their season cut short by losing in penalty kicks to a New England public school.

This season it was the No. 5 New Hampshire Wildcats who downed No. 4 Binghamton 4-2 in penalty kicks, Friday at Al-Marzook Field in Hartford. This comes one year after the same thing happened against Maine; the team was different, but the pain was equally real.

“It’s very upsetting,” said Binghamton head coach Jeff Leightman. “Sometimes you can deserve to win and still lose, and sometimes you can tie and still lose.”

The Wildcats scored on their first three PK attempts, while BU made just one of the first three, a shot by freshman midfielder Amanda Casares that screamed past the UNH keeper. With the season on the line, Bearcat keeper Kristie Bowers stoned New Hampshire’s Hillary Mefferrd to keep the shootout alive.

It looked like the Bearcats would have a chance at victory when BU defender Katie Kerrigan nailed the next shot, making the score 3-2 New Hampshire, but Jenna Duncan sent her next shot past Bowers, giving New Hampshire the victory and ending the Bearcats’ season.

“Everyone was shocked and disappointed,” Leightman said. “It’s heartbreaking to lose like that, especially since we’ve been playing our best soccer of the season. To end your season that way just isn’t fun.”

The Bearcats dominated play for most of regulation. Three potential game-winning shots hit off the cross bars, dooming BU’s chances. The result was even harder to swallow for the team because, according to Leightman, the Bearcats were the better team.

“I think honestly this one hurts a little more,” Leightman said. “Even though last year it was in the semifinals, this year is harder because we really dominated out there. We said after we lost to Hartford that was the best we’ve played all year, but we played even better against New Hampshire.”

The Bearcats outshot UNH by a margin of 18 to 12 but forced the Wildcat keeper to make just two saves, as the bounces just did not go BU’s way. Tricia Reed, who was recently named All-Conference, led the Bearcats with six shots and had the two shots on goal.

“Tricia played fantastic all year. Honestly, I believed she was the best player on the field this weekend,” Leightman said.

It was the final game for BU senior goalkeepers Bowers and Kristy Doerner, along with forward Kelly Burnham. Burnham had three shots, while Bowers finished with nine saves. The goal for Leightman will now be to replace the production those players leave behind.

“It’s hard to replace them, but that’s the business of college athletics,” Leightman said. “We’re only losing three players and I believe the weaknesses we had this year will be addressed.”

The team is not looking at the loss as a failure, believing that they played the best they have all season. Leightman hopes that this game will be the catalyst that brings home another title next season.

“That’s our goal, to use this as a springboard,” Leightman said. “We won it in 2004 and it started with what we did before, and that carried over. Our team believes we should be playing in Maine next weekend; hopefully that feeling will carry over next year.”