The Binghamton women’s soccer team had been here before.

Just 18 days ago, the Bearcats overcame a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 victory at Maine. But the Black Bears, who scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of this afternoon’s America East quarterfinals match with Binghamton, wouldn’t back down at Alumni Field this time.

The Bearcats (8-8-2, 3-4-1 America East) couldn’t battle back, their season coming to an end as the Black Bears (9-5-4, 5-2-1 AE) advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 win.

BU head coach Sarah McClellan said Maine took advantage of its opportunities early in the game.

“This happened the last time we were here, that just for whatever reason, the first 15 minutes, we weren’t competing hard enough,” she said. “Maybe it’s the long road trip, or whatever, but that put us in a hole. The second half I thought we really competed well and put a lot of pressure on Maine, but just could not convert to get back into the game.”

Maine’s first goal came just five minutes after the first buzzer. Sophomore forward Evé L’Abbe launched a shot from 20 yards out that sailed over BU junior keeper Gaby Gold before it struck the back of the net. L’Abbe’s goal marked her fifth of the season, a team high.

Eight minutes later, junior forward Jordan Pellerin headed in a goal off a rebound. Senior back Maggie Malone’s shot off a corner kick bounced back, and Pellerin garnered her fourth goal of the season.

Despite the final score, the game was close—Maine held an advantage in shots, but only by one, at 11-10. And in terms of accuracy, they bested Binghamton by one, putting six on the keeper to the Bearcats’ five. Still, even though it was close, and even though the Bearcats stepped up after their early wake-up call, it wasn’t good enough.

“I don’t think it was our A game today,” McClellan said. “But especially in the second half we really had the ball on their end a lot more, and we were just unlucky to not string something together.”

Binghamton did put up more shots than its host in the final 45 minutes, but only marginally. The team contributed four of its total 10 in this half, while Maine added three.

“I think we did a good job of having more energy than them in the second half,” McClellan said. “At that point, they were really just holding the lead and keeping their numbers back. So that made it difficult for us to get the scores or to get on the scoreboard.”

Sophomore midfielder Rebecca Raber led the Bearcats’ offense with three shots, all of which sent the two Maine keepers diving to earn their shutout.

“[Raber] is a great player and I thought she competed well today,” McClellan said. “She won a lot of balls in midfield and was able to get some pretty good shots on goal. She’s a First-Team All-Conference player and I’m looking forward to seeing how good she could get.”

Five other Bearcats logged shots, including senior forwards Conor O’Brien and Sophie Sylla. The game marks the last of their collegiate careers, along with keepers Carrie Martin and Stephanie Speirs, back Liz Cusato, midfielder Emma Kurth, and forward Kaitlyn Martin.

On the defensive end of the field, Gold collected four saves, which was a match high, since the Maine keepers shared their five.

Though naturally disappointing to end the season with a shutout, the game was still a tournament matchup. McClellan said she was proud of her team for getting that far.

“We did a lot of work to get to the playoffs this year and won a lot of games on the road to get us in, and I think we proudly feel like we could have done a little bit better today,” she said. “But other than that, the team did a good job to qualify for playoffs and to make that something that we want to do every year going forward.”