As the semester gathers steam, many can’t help but notice that it doesn’t quite seem like fall semester at Binghamton University just yet.
And for those people, things are about to change tonight, as the Binghamton University men’s soccer team is set to open its 2011 home campaign.
The Bearcats (2-2) are scheduled to face off against Central Connecticut State University (2-2) at 7:30 p.m. and then play Rider University (1-3-1) at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The two games are part of a tournament hosted by Binghamton, which will also feature fellow America East member University at Albany (2-2).
The Central Connecticut State Blue Devils were predicted to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Northeast Conference while the Rider Broncs were chosen ninth out of the 10-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Binghamton is tied for 24th nationally in scoring offense with nine goals through four games, an average of 2.25 goals per game.
Individually, junior forward Jake Keegan is among the nation’s leaders in goals per game and points per game. His four goals and 10 points this season land him in fifth and seventh place respectively throughout all of Division I soccer.
As for this weekend’s opponents, the scoring differential could not be any more drastic. The Blue Devils have scored just three goals in their four games and no individual player has recorded more than a single goal. Similarly, the Broncs have just four goals in their five games and only one player, junior Brandon Sebastian, has recorded more than one goal.
Binghamton University head coach Paul Marco has been extremely pleased with Keegan’s performance this year but is also quick to note that the efforts of one player can only go so far in a sport so contingent on the team aspect.
“Jake has done a great job, but our guys are getting him the ball in great positions,” he said. “I think that [sophomore] Luke [Halberg] has played quite well up front with him, I think [junior] Adam Whitehead and [senior] Ryan Walter have gotten him the ball in pretty good positions, so I think it’s been a great collective effort.”
Dating back to their season opener at Bucknell University on Aug. 26, the Bearcats have played four games in a span of three weeks, giving the team plenty of time to prepare for each opponent. But this weekend, the team will play two games in less than 48 hours.
Instead of preparing for both teams throughout this week’s practices, however, Marco has decided to stick with his “one game at a time” approach.
“We haven’t put Rider into anything yet because we have a match [against CCSU] on Friday night,” he said. “[We’ll start talking about Rider] on Saturday.”
Moreover, rather than putting a large focus on preparing for this weekend’s opponents, Marco has instead decided to concentrate more on simply improving his own team.
“This week has been us trying to improve some of the areas that we’ve seen over the last few weeks that we need to get better at,” he said. “Even if it’s just 1 or 2 percent better, we needed [each player] to improve this week.”
Only seven juniors and seniors are scattered throughout Binghamton’s roster in comparison to Rider’s 18 and CCSU’s 17. The remaining 21 Bearcats are freshmen and sophomores, many of whom are inexperienced at the collegiate level. But according to Marco, he, his coaching staff and the newcomers have been working together to improve and make up for what the team lacks in age.
“[It’s a big jump] making the transition to Division-I athletics from high school and I think our guys have handled it quite well,” Marco said. “They’re taking the coaching that we’re trying to do and [working hard to get better].”
The Bearcats are coming off four straight road games to open their season and have endured long bus rides south to West Virginia and west to Ohio. But now they are finally set to play their first home games of the season in front of what they hope will be a large and supportive crowd.
“We’re delighted to be home,” Marco said. “We’ve got a great home facility and a wonderful and energetic crowd that we’re expecting is going to be fantastic.”