Men’s soccer extends losing streak in defeat to Hartford

After a 2-0 loss to UMBC, the Binghamton men’s soccer team failed to put an end to their winless streak against Hartford. Despite a late goal by graduate student midfielder Noah Luescher, the Bearcats were unable to make up the two-goal deficit in the 2-1 defeat to the Hawks.

“We didn’t show a sense of urgency at the start of the match,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco, per bubearcats.com. “Hartford came out with a lot more energy and got the two first-half goals. We finally started to show a sense of urgency after [Luescher’s] goal, but it was too late.”

Luescher’s goal seemed to be an intended delivery into the Hartford (4-8-3, 2-4-0 America East [AE]) box, as the Bearcat sent the ball in from far up the field into a sea of Binghamton (7-5-1, 2-3-0 AE) white. However, the ball found no players from either side and bounced right in front of the goalkeeper, who had stepped off his line. The Hartford keeper was shifted right and froze as the ball flew toward the woodwork. Once the ball reached the goalie box, he tracked the ball until it bounced off the turf and into the goal. The goal was enough to transfer some momentum back in BU’s favor, but after conceding goals early on in the game, the Bearcats were unable to score an equalizer and make up the deficit.

Hartford’s goals came in the 23rd and 31st minutes of the first half. The Hawks also posted seven shots and five corners in the first half alone.

Binghamton now sits on a three-game losing streak and four-game winless streak. Although BU’s next matchup will be a break from conference play, the game will come against No. 19 Cornell University at home.

The game against the Red Bears is slated for Tuesday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.

Women’s soccer draws with Maine at home

Although the Binghamton women’s soccer team found strong opportunities to take the lead over Maine on Sunday afternoon, the Bearcats failed to capitalize on their chances and were forced to settle for a 0-0 tie following double overtime.

“We knew Maine would be a tough, physical opponent to break down, and they showed it today,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee, per bubearcats.com. “But we lacked urgency, especially on the attacking end. We created good chances in the overtime but couldn’t put one away. Going forward, we need to show that kind of attacking mindset and energy for the full 90 minutes. It was disappointing to leave a couple of points on the field today, and if we want to get a good postseason seed, we still need a few more results.”

In spite of the result to Maine (3-6-3, 1-5-1 America East [AE]), Binghamton (8-5-3, 4-1-2 AE) remains undefeated in five games, including a 0-0 draw to conference favorite Stony Brook.

During the matchup, Binghamton outshot Maine 17-11, forcing the Black Bears to produce six saves. Although BU had more shots, they were outshot on goal, 8-6. Senior goalkeeper Haylee Poltorak made eight total saves and earned her seventh clean sheet of the season. Poltorak also currently has the highest save percentage in the AE at .868, and is tied for most shutouts this season.

Binghamton is set to continue conference play at University of New Hampshire on Saturday, Oct. 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Wildcat Stadium in Durham, New Hampshire.

Cross country teams compete at Princeton Invitational

Leaving both redshirt seniors Dan Schaffer and Emily Mackay at home to rest for the upcoming America East (AE) championship, the Binghamton men’s and women’s cross country teams took on the Princeton Invitational on Saturday. The men’s and women’s sides finished 17th and 13th, respectively, out of 21 competing teams.

The highest-placed athlete for the men’s side was senior Matt Jacob, who took 42nd of 208 finishing runners, clocking in at 25:24.10 in the 8K. Junior Marty Dolan was next in BU’s top-two finishes, placing 79th with a time of 25:54.80. Redshirt senior Matthew Goyden rounded out the Bearcats that broke the top 100 at Princeton, finishing 89th and posting a time of 25:59.30. The Binghamton team tallied 465 points, while first-place Villanova posted only 32 to top the standings.

Despite Mackay’s absence at the meet, senior Aziza Chigatayeva made up the ground for the Bearcats. She posted a 28th place finish out of 176 finishing athletes with a time of 22:31.20 in the 6.1K race. The next-highest finisher was graduate student Elisabeth Van Tassell in 77th, who crossed the line in 23:43.50. Sophomore Lindsay Holland and junior Carolyn Burnell also cracked the top 100, finishing 96th (24:07.40) and 97th (24:07.90) respectively. Princeton won the meet with 39 points, and BU dropped to the middle of the standing with a tally of 385.

Binghamton’s next meet is the AE Cross Country Championship on Friday, Oct. 29. The race is set to take place in Durham, New Hampshire.

Volleyball swept in second matchup with Stony Brook

Despite a promising start to America East (AE) play, the Binghamton volleyball team’s trajectory has begun to run out of steam. In this season’s second matchup against Stony Brook, BU was swept in three sets in a similar fashion to its home match earlier this month. The 3-0 defeat marks Binghamton’s fourth in a row this conference season.

The first set was the most tightly contested, ending 25-19 with the Bearcats (6-12, 2-4 AE) in contention early on. Although Stony Brook (10-10, 4-2 AE) eventually pulled away, Binghamton showed some promise on the offensive front against its conference rivals.

The second and third sets, however, were less kind to the Bearcats, who dropped them 25-14 and 25-11, respectively. BU never gained control over the Seawolves and failed to contend with the home side. Even though Binghamton managed to match Stony Brook’s end game kill a total of 40, the lack of consistency by the Bearcats sunk them on Sunday afternoon.

BU opened its conference season with a 3-2 win over NJIT and a subsequent 3-2 victory over conference favorites Albany in one of its tightest matchups of the season. However, Binghamton has failed to win a match since and has not managed to win more than one set in any of them. Their next matchup is against UMBC, who swept the Bearcats on Friday 3-0.

The matchup with the Retrievers is set for Sunday, Oct. 24. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the West Gym in Vestal, New York.