When the Binghamton men’s soccer team heads to Northern Illinois this weekend to participate in the NIU Adidas Invitational, the Bearcats will be missing a key member of their squad. Senior starting forward Alex Varkatzas is out for the season after suffering multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung in Monday’s game against Manhattan. Although this is a major loss for BU (2-0-2), the team has a new motto going forward: next man up.
“We’re obviously going to miss Alex [Varkatzas] this weekend,” said BU head coach Paul Marco. “He has been one of our more consistent players through the entire season so far. But I also think that forward is a position area that we’re fairly deep in. We have a few different guys who give us a few different looks, so we’ll be a little bit less with him, but it will give some of the younger guys a chance to show what they can do.”
The Bearcats will need to find a replacement for Varkatzas in the starting line, but they aren’t short of options.
“I was rotating those three guys — [sophomore forward] Nikos [Psarras], Alex and [senior forward] Logan [Roberts] — throughout the entire season so far,” Marco said. “I decided to play [junior forward] Ben [Ovetsky] up front the other night, so there are lots of faces. [Freshman forward] Harry Wood is coming into form. Logan Roberts, Nikos, Ben. There’s four guys right there who all, in their own moment, can be up front starting.”
Even with their situation at forward, the Bearcats have plenty of goal-scorers on the roster. BU has tallied six goals through four games this season, with five different players finding the back of the net. Leading the team in goals is sophomore midfielder Miles Burbank, who netted two last week.
Marco knew heading into the season that Burbank had the potential to be someone the team could count on.
“I thought Miles [Burbank] had a terrific spring season,” he said. “I thought he would be a guy we could rely on and depend on this fall. He is certainly one of the guys that is helping us get to where we want to be.”
Binghamton goes into NIU (0-2-2) coming off a 2-0 shutout of Manhattan. In Monday’s match, the Bearcats controlled play from the start, albeit against a 10-man Manhattan squad, something they will look to do in their first game against tournament host Northern Illinois. The Huskies are winless this year, including a 1-1 tie against BU’s America East opponent UMBC.
BU’s final match at the invitational is against Loyola Chicago, who will prove to be a formidable side. After opening their season with an overtime victory, the Ramblers (3-0) recorded back-to-back clean sheets. In the latest NSCAA Coaches Poll, Loyola received 16 points, good for 35th in the country.
Four games into the season, Binghamton has yet to drop a game, and Marco has many more reasons to be excited about his group of kids.
“I’ve been pleased with our performances so far; I think that the team has grown a lot since the first day of preseason for sure,” he said. “I think that overall, the guys have really tried to embrace training and improve each day. It’s a young eager team, they love going out to the training field.”
Kickoff for BU’s first game is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday from the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex in DeKalb, Illinois.