This weekend, the Binghamton University men’s soccer team traveled to head coach Paul Marco’s old stomping grounds at West Virginia University for the WVU Nike Classic. The Bearcats split their games, dropping the first 2-1 to host and No. 12 West Virginia on Friday before rallying late for a 4-1 victory over Houston Baptist University on Sunday.
Marco, who graduated from West Virginia in 1991, remained on campus as an assistant coach from 1992-95 before taking over as the head coach from 1996-2001. One year later, he began what is now a 10-year career as head coach of the Binghamton University men’s soccer team.
“It was a very emotional weekend for myself and my family,” he said. “But I came down here for a purpose, and that was to help our Bearcat team get a little bit better in this early part of the season, and I think we did that.”
Despite Marco’s emotions and the Mountaineers’ (2-1) impressive ranking as one of the nation’s top teams, Binghamton (2-1) remained poised and jumped ahead to an early 1-0 lead Friday as junior Jake Keegan netted his second goal of the season just nine minutes into play.
Having beaten a nationally ranked opponent last year (Lafayette College, then ranked No. 26) 1-0, BU was hopeful of pulling off the same feat for a second straight year.
But the Bearcats’ dreams of another upset were crushed before halftime as West Virginia freshman Andy Bevin scored his second and third goals of the season only 10 minutes apart.
“We just had a couple of moments where we weren’t really good in certain areas and it cost us a couple of goals,” Marco said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game … We gave them a little bit of room to breathe, and great teams take advantage of it.”
Though Binghamton was able to get on the board first on Friday, it was Houston Baptist that jumped out ahead on Sunday.
Only 10 minutes into play, HBU’s Francisco Diaz headed a deflected ball past Binghamton sophomore goalie Anthony Sokalski to put the Huskies ahead 1-0.
For the next hour, scoring remained at a standstill and it looked as if the Bearcats were about to head home with two tournament losses.
And then, in the final 18 minutes of regulation, Binghamton erupted for four goals. The first came from senior Ryan Walter assisted by a cross from sophomore Luke Halberg to tie the game at one. Five minutes later, Halberg found Keegan, who beat HBU’s goalie to go ahead 2-1.
But the Bearcats weren’t done yet. In the 86th minute, Halberg put his team up 3-1 after receiving a pass from Keegan. Finally the Binghamton barrage halted after a fourth goal from sophomore Marts Reid-Warden. Only 1:18 had elapsed between the team’s third and fourth goals, the quickest since 2007 when it scored two goals in 36 seconds.
“I [didn’t think we played] very well to start the match,” Marco said. “We looked to do things more individually than collectively.”
But the second-half explosion saved the Bearcats in a complete turnaround from its performance in the game’s early goings.
“We had a stern talking to the team and they responded brilliantly,” Marco added. “And the way we responded with four goals in [18 minutes] was pretty good.”
Keegan now has two goals in as many games as he comes off a sensational summer playing in the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League where he led the league in scoring with 16 goals and was named All-Eastern Conference and All-PDL.
“He’s been very good for us since he’s come to campus,” Marco said. “We do have some areas that we feel in his game need to improve and I think he can really grow a little bit here and in the next couple of weeks I think he’s going to be better than what we’re seeing now … and we’re seeing a pretty good one.”
Albeit quiet as a substitute in the West Virginia game, Halberg finished the weekend with a goal and two assists, which all came on Sunday. His four points tie his career high, which he set in 2010.
“We were just like, ‘Alright, we just have to finish this game and come out with a win here, we can’t go out with another loss,'” he said. “Everybody worked together and we came out with the victory.”
Both Keegan and Halberg were named to the WVU Nike Classic All-Tournament Team along with junior Adam Whitehead.
With the weekend behind them, the Bearcats will not see action again until Sunday when they head to The Ohio State University to take on another nationally ranked team in the No. 23 Buckeyes.