A full circle provides closure, right? Ending the season much in the same way it began, the third-seeded Binghamton men’s soccer team was booted from the America East Tournament in its semifinals round on Wednesday night, after two corner kicks from No. 2 Hartford proved to be the underdog’s Kryptonite.
Sore against set-piece defending — which led to conceded goals earlier in the season — the Bearcats (5-14-1, 3-5-1 AE) let up their first goal in the 73rd minute, and another with 53 seconds remaining in overtime to end their season, 2-1. Hartford (11-5-2, 5-2-0 AE) senior defender Connor Yeaney scored both goals, with senior defender Rohan Roye credited with an assist on the former and sophomore midfielder Udi Cohen on the latter.
For being outshot, 20-4, Binghamton put on a pretty impressive defensive display. The AE Goalkeeper of the Year, sophomore Robert Moewes, in conjunction with freshman back Christian Dam and senior back Jamie Forbes, combined for six saves. Moewes reacted for an incredible save in the 84th minute to keep the game tied. He dove, saw the ball ricochet from his hands, and dove again to push it past the backline. On the resulting corner kick, he garnered another save, collecting two in under a minute.
As far as Zach Galluzzo is concerned, the night saw sizable success: The sophomore midfielder netted his first career goal — a semifinals equalizer —in the outing. Retaliating two minutes after Hartford’s initial damage, he rifled a shot from 16 yards out, beating Hawks sophomore keeper David MacKinnon to force a tie. In his last game in the green and white, graduate student midfielder Tommy Moon was credited with an assist on the play.
Were it not for a risky tactic taken by Hartford junior defender Jhamie Hyde five minutes into overtime, BU’s result may have been different. Senior back Derrick Ladeairous broke away from a cluster of players and charged downfield, about to go head-to-head with MacKinnon. But Hyde grabbed Ladeairous by the shoulders and tackled him to the ground. Though Hyde was penalized with a red card on the play and the Hawks were forced to continue with a man down for the remainder of the game, that didn’t stop them from taking the game.
The loss is upsetting, but even making it this far was, to external eyes, a stride for the Bearcats. BU was picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the preseason poll this August, but carried the three seed into the AE Tournament and persevered into the semifinal round. That success did not surprise Binghamton’s players and BU head coach Paul Marco, however, inside the program, there were scoffs at the underwhelming ranking. They knew they were playing at a higher level than that.
Taking the field for the last time were seven Binghamton players set to graduate this year: Moon, Ladeairous, Forbes, senior forwards Steven Celeste, Matt McCoy and Vlad Finn, senior back Alan Duff and senior midfielder Pascal Trappe played their last game for the Bearcats in the postseason loss. But they left on a bittersweet note, as they were able to extend their games by two due to their success. All but Duff saw minutes on Wednesday night.
Advancing to the America East Championships, Hartford will take on UMBC (11-5-3, 6-0-1 AE) in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday. The AE’s No. 1 seed ousted Vermont, 3-1, at home on Wednesday. The title match is set to begin at 7 p.m.