108 minutes into its Homecoming match on Saturday night, and the Binghamton men’s soccer team had looked dominant from the start. The team passed the majority of the game applying steady pressure in its attacking third and stifling Vermont’s opportunities. Commanding a 15-12 shot advantage and a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks, the Bearcats (4-9-0, 2-0-1 America East) were swift and tactical, feeding off the electric energy of their 1,604 fans at the Bearcats Sports Complex.
But a handball in the box sealed an unfortunate fate for Binghamton. Vermont (7-5-2, 2-1-1 AE) senior midfielder Brad Cole scored off a penalty kick with 1:26 remaining in the second overtime period, dealing the Bearcats their first conference loss in a 1-0 heartbreaker.
“It’s difficult to swallow when you lose a game that way, when you feel like you did more than your fair share in the game,” BU head coach Paul Marco said.
In fact, Binghamton arguably performed at its peak so far this season. The team pieced together numerous solid opportunities, with just the post standing between it and a goal in two unlucky occasions.
The most promising of these chances came in the 22nd minute, when senior forward Steven Celeste broke through Vermont’s defense and fired a shot from outside of the box. With Catamounts senior keeper Conor Leland at the wrong end of the goal, the shot looked to be a surefire score, but it struck the right post and ricocheted away. While freshman midfielder Isaiah Barrett was in prime position to take a shot off the rebounded goal, Leland made a quick save to kill the look.
Come the overtime periods, the Bearcats were just as commanding: the ball spent nearly the entirety of the first period in Vermont’s territory and the hosts added four shots and forced as many corner kicks before the deciding moment of the second.
“The outcome of tonight’s match is very difficult for the team,” Marco said. “I thought the boys played very, very well tonight – it was probably our best soccer. … But I think that today’s match won’t define the team. It certainly won’t end our season – we have a lot more to play for.”
The team saw offensive contributions from seven players, with sophomore midfielder Logan Roberts leading the efforts with five shots. Classmate Charlie Novoth recorded an additional three, and Celeste chipped in two. Senior forward Derrick Ladeairous, graduate student midfielder Tommy Moon, senior back Jaime Forbes and Barrett rounded out the Bearcats’ contributors with one shot apiece.
Even that spread is telling for a Bearcat squad that averaged 7.1 shots per game before tonight, and the excitement afforded by its vocal crowd played no small role in that production.
“I just hope that the fans who came today, and all the students who came, I hope they know and appreciate the amount of respect and the energy level that our guys have for them,” Marco said.
Though the loss was disappointing, the health of the team is promising: senior forward Pascal Trappe was deemed healthy enough to take the field for the first time in two years. The Berlin native immediately impressed the crowd with his deft footwork, through which he deceived none too few of Vermont’s players and easily pushed into their defending territory.
Trappe’s return and the team’s strong outing were encouraging to Marco, in that the team appears to be nearing its prime shape.
“I think we’re getting stronger as the season is continuing to go, and now we just need to make sure that our performance and our product match each other,” Marco said. “We get a little bit more from the performance we put in and at the end of the game we have something to show for it.”
The Bearcats will strive to yield a more positive result off their efforts in their next match, which is scheduled for Wednesday night against UMBC. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.