This season, the Binghamton University women’s soccer team brought passion to the field. In the regular season, the Bearcats finished 7-10-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the America East.
The defensive line was solid for Binghamton all season, allowing only University of New Hampshire and Boston University to score more than a single goal in a game. On offense, Binghamton had 118 shots on goal to their opponents’ 94. Sophomore goalkeeper Carrie Martin made 72 saves this season, stopping 83 percent of shots.
“The entire team played strong on both sides of the ball offensively and defensively,” Binghamton head coach Sarah McClellan said about the season’s performances.
Unfortunately, the squad’s shots on goal failed to translate into instant success, and Binghamton had a run-of-the-mill season until late October.
But even when the team lost, they played hard until the end. Seven of Binghamton’s losses this year were by the margin of a single goal and the remaining three losses were also close. The Bearcats lost to two teams in overtime and the season opener loss to Buffalo came in double overtime.
“Overtime is a high pressure situation,” McClellan said. “However, those pressure situations gave us practice as we felt that same kind of pressure in our late push to qualify for playoffs and then heading into playoff play.”
From early to late October, the team endured a losing streak, falling to Albany, Boston and New Hampshire on the road. But the Bearcats made a comeback late in the season, sneaking their way into the postseason. Late in the month, the team rallied with wins against Vermont and UMBC, securing a ticket to the America East quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals against New Hampshire, Binghamton notched another victory. A goal scored by senior midfielder Taylor Kucharski decided the fate of the game only 2:22 into play. The Bearcats would face nationally ranked and top-seeded Boston in the semifinals.
The Bearcats struggled to take care of business against Boston, letting two goals get past their defense in the first half. In the second half, junior forward Sarah Furminger managed to score for Binghamton off an assist from senior Mary DeWitte, but the team could not break Boston’s defense again to gain the tie. Binghamton’s season inevitably came to an end with the 2-1 loss.
“I thought we played some quality soccer this season; we were a bit inconsistent early in the season in finishing out games, but really came on strong in the end of the season,” McClellan said. “I thought we played with a lot of passion and our work paid off in our results getting into playoffs and then getting to the semis.”