The Binghamton men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 draw in its final regular-season match at No. 17 Vermont on Tuesday night to clinch the No. 6 seed in the America East playoffs. BU got off to an early lead, however, a second-half red card saw the Bearcats fall to 10 men and relinquish their lead to the Catamounts in the 88th minute of play.

“I thought we were really, really good,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “The start of the game, the intensity level, the purposefulness with which we played, the excitement the guys showed. I thought we were good on counterattacks and very good on defending.”

Binghamton (8-6-4, 2-3-2 AE) found itself on the defensive early in the match, but Vermont (9-2-5, AE 4-1-2) struggled to string together a complete offensive possession, as both squads were held shotless throughout the first 14 minutes of play. The Bearcats, making efficient use of their limited opportunities, struck first in the 15th minute when sophomore midfielder Alex Balkey lobbed the ball to redshirt sophomore back Cailen Thomas. Inside the opponents’ box, Thomas found sophomore forward/midfielder Marcus Nahim, who buried it into the back of the Catamounts’ net for his first goal of the 2024 campaign.

“We were good at defending on corners in the game,” Marco said. “There were moments when we were just putting the ball out of bounds for a corner because we were OK defending them, but late in the game, our guys were tired.”

Continuing to apply pressure on Vermont’s back line was Nahim, who registered his second shot attempt of the night just one minute after his game-opening score. The Catamounts opened their shot book in the 18th with two consecutive attempts and after a lone attempt from senior forward Mael Lopes, Vermont dominated offensive opportunities throughout the remainder of the first half of play. Although the Catamounts earned seven corner kicks and attempted five shots, they were unable to break through.

“We minimized the good chances that [Vermont] had in the game,” Marco said. “They didn’t really have many good opportunities. We knew we were going to try to give them opportunities from a distance, where we thought [graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott] could do a good job.”

Vermont, needing a win to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AE playoffs, opened the second half, registering two shots on goal in the first seven minutes of action, both of which ended up in the gloves of McDermott. The foes went on to trade corner kick tries and soon after, in the 60th minute, a lob flew into the Bearcats box, and an unopposed Catamount forward got his head on it, but a diving save from McDermott preserved the Bearcat lead.

“The game plan was pretty good,” Marco said. “Until the red card, I thought we were going to see the game out. Then once we got the red card I knew it was going to be really difficult for us to not let them get one.”

The opponents continued to trade possessions and shots, but the foundation of BU’s lead began to crumble in the 78th minute when Balkey was awarded his yellow card, as BU was down to 10 men for the third time this season. Switching into a more defensively-minded formation, Binghamton’s back-line held strong until the 88th minute, when Vermont tied the match at 1-1 on a corner kick. The Bearcats held onto the draw, and despite the last-minute concession, they ended their conference slate with points at Vermont, earning an AE playoff berth.

“[On] Friday, we’ll train at UMBC and then we’ll see how the session goes on Friday,” Marco said. “[Then, we’ll] figure out what we’re going to do on Saturday. But right now we like the mood of the team [and] the rhythm that we’ve been going at for the past few weeks so we’ll see how things go.”

For the third straight year, No. 6 Binghamton will begin its postseason run at No. 3 UMBC on Saturday, Nov. 9 in an AE quarterfinal matchup. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.