With just four non-conference contests remaining until the opening of its America East slate, the Binghamton men’s soccer team is determined to earn a win at home before the stats really start to count.
Currently 2-4 on the season, the Bearcats have dropped all three of their home matches. Seemingly their best performances have come on the road: They beat Bucknell, 2-1, in their season opener, narrowly lost to Duquesne, 3-2, a team which is currently tied for 25th in scoring offense in the nation and 17th in total goals, and shut out Niagara, 2-0.
But on their own turf, the Bearcats have faltered. They’ve lost to Marist, Army and most recently Cornell, each by just a one-goal deficit (1-0).
Against Cornell, BU’s offense didn’t pick up until the second half and even then couldn’t land many shots on target. Against Marist, it was a similar story. Only Army was able to stifle the Binghamton offense in the game’s waning minutes, holding the Bearcats to just one accurate shot through the half.
Despite all that, the Bearcats technically outshot their opponents through the three games, 21-20.
So what’s the problem?
“I think that sometimes maybe it’s just a little bit of nerves, maybe they have a little bit of self doubt,” BU head coach Paul Marco said. “If I can instill a little bit more belief in them — I mean, I believe they’re perfect,” he joked.
The cause isn’t important. The solution is, and Marco tweaked his team’s approach in attempt to resolve that play discrepancy. The new plan has been to endow the team with more responsibility over the fate of the game.
“What I mean by that is, I’ve just asked them to express themselves a little bit more on the field,” Marco explained. “I think that they have the quality, I think they certainly have the ability to do what we’re asking them.”
Rather than ascribe the fault to the flow of the game, to say that there were factors beyond the team’s control, Marco’s plan is to change the vocabulary with which they speak about the game. They’re changing “couldn’t” to “can.”
“I’ve tried to show them more of what we can control and certainly one of those things is the ball,” Marco said. “When we have the ball, we can dictate play a little bit better than we have. And I think when they have the ball, we need to be more purposeful with our defending and not allow the opponent so much time on the ball.”
One defensive area the team has pinpointed is its set-piece defending. Every goal the Bearcats have conceded this season has come off of a set piece, so Marco decided to attack the problem from multiple angles.
“We changed a couple of defending formations that we have on a couple of the set pieces, and we energized the attitude and concentration required in defending set pieces,” Marco said.
With two immediate opportunities to amend that inconsistency, Binghamton can both prove the effectiveness of its solutions and take control of its home record when it hosts Lafayette on Saturday and nationally ranked Syracuse (No. 23) Tuesday.
Tentatively retaking the field on Saturday is sophomore keeper Robert Moewes, who spent the past two weeks on the bench due to a foot injury. While the German-born goalie wasn’t fully participating in practice on Wednesday, Marco said he showed promise in his recovery.
Play on both Saturday and Tuesday is slated for 7 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.