On Sunday, the Binghamton women’s soccer team continued its unbeaten streak on the road against Vermont. After defeating NJIT on Thursday, the Bearcats put on a dominant offensive effort in Burlington as they took care of the Catamounts 6-1, taking the sole position of first place in the conference despite playing one less game than the teams behind them.

“Very pleased with the way the team responded,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “We were down a goal early, giving up an unfortunate [penalty kick]. So we had to show some resilience to come back from that and we did.”

BU (6-4-2, 3-0-0 America East [AE]) conceded a goal to Vermont (3-6-2, 0-2-2 AE) early from a penalty kick. However, this was the only goal the Bearcats gave up for the remainder of the match.

“I thought that first goal started to change the trajectory of the game,” Bhattacharjee said. “We started to get more goals from there, and as the game went on, we got more confident.”

Despite giving up an early score, Binghamton did not waste time responding, as sophomore forward Peyton Gilmore found the back of the net in the 18th minute. This goal sparked two more for the Bearcats within the next six minutes of play. Senior forward Maya Anand scored the first of her three goals just under the 20-minute mark. Less than three minutes later, Gilmore scored her second goal of the game to put BU up 3-1.

The Bearcats continued their offensive dominance for the rest of the first half. Anand put back-to-back unassisted goals into the net less than 10 minutes apart, her eighth and ninth goals of the season. The senior became the first Bearcat to record a hat trick in one half, and she also tied the program’s record for points in a game with seven. The senior now leads the conference in goals with nine, three more than anyone else.

“A decent amount of [Anand and Gilmore’s] opportunities actually come from their defending,” Bhattacharjee said. “We require our forwards to do a bit of defensive work and they did that … They create opportunities in terms of how they defend and how they work … There’s a few different ways they can be dangerous in our attack, and it’s difficult for America East defenders to have to cope with that.”

In the 39th minute, senior midfielder Olivia McKnight scored Binghamton’s final goal of the game off of an Anand assist. BU fired 13 shots in the first half, going into the break with a 6-1 advantage.

“I thought we were very efficient in terms of our shooting,” Bhattacharjee said. “13 shots in the first half turning into six goals … So I was very pleased with our attack, and that we took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to us.”

Binghamton spent the majority of the second half defending its own goal. The Catamounts threatened by firing 15 shots in the period but were unable to put any shots into the back of the net. Sophomore goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams played a major role in halting Vermont’s offense. The Bearcat made seven total saves with six coming in the second half and three coming within a minute-and-a-half of one another.

“[Williams] did well,” Bhattacharjee said. “[Vermont] started to get some looks in the second half … Most of the shots were right at [Williams], so she didn’t have to make spectacular diving saves. But that’s credit to her, she was able to stop the ball, was in good position, had a good angle on all of the shots, so well done by her.”

After three conference matches, Binghamton is now 3-0 in AE play. Its unbeaten streak is now at six games as they move into the middle of the conference season.

“I think we have to give credit to the trajectory of the season,” Bhattacharjee said. “We played a very demanding non-conference schedule. We played Buffalo, Syracuse [and] Michigan State — these are all top-100 RPI type of teams. Even though we took some hits, what I love is how the team adjusted and grew from those experiences … It’s given us an opportunity to get out to a good start in America East play.”

BU returns home on Sunday, Oct. 9 against New Hampshire. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal, New York.