On Tuesday evening, the Binghamton men’s soccer team hosted Hartford for a brief break from America East (AE) play. After getting shut out by Vermont last Saturday, the Bearcats bounced back by tallying the most goals in their Division I history to get their first victory of the season.

“It’s unbelievable to get that many goals in a game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “We came out this afternoon and worked on some finishing, and I thought the guys were outstanding … I thought we could get a couple tonight, [but] I wasn’t thinking this many.”

BU (1-6-2, 0-1 AE) scored its first goal of the game in the 12th minute, as senior back Michael Bush placed a header into the back of Hartford’s (0-9-0) net from a corner kick sent in by senior back Devin Heanue. This was Bush’s first goal of the season.

The Bearcats struck again in the 21st minute when Heanue received a through ball from redshirt junior midfielder Anthony Lazaridis on the left side of the 18-yard box. The senior back was able to handle the pass and fired a shot that found the bottom right corner, past the outstretched hands of the Hawks’ goalkeeper.

“I thought today was the best striking of the ball that [Heanue’s] had all season,” Marco said. “His deliveries were outstanding, shooting the ball was good. It was nice to see [freshman back Luke Yates] back on the team tonight too, so we had a lot of positives out of tonight’s game.”

BU made substitutions near the end of the first frame in the 33rd minute. Less than 30 seconds after being subbed on, senior forward Matthew Cozetti struck a shot that found the top right corner. Heanue tallied a second assist as the Bearcats went into halftime up 3-0.

“Coming from the wide area, I like to try and get a lot of crosses in,” Heanue said. “I’m happy to get a couple of [assists] today, and I hope to get more in the games coming up.”

Despite shutting out the Hawks in the first half, Binghamton conceded its first goal of the game seven minutes into the second period. In the 60th minute, Hartford gave itself another chance to cut the deficit to one as a ball came across the front of the box. However, senior goalkeeper Mats Roorda was there to keep the ball out of the net and maintain BU’s advantage.

“Disappointed that we gave up a goal,” Marco said. “The goal we gave up, we just shouldn’t have given up. I thought we gave up a couple of chances to [Hartford] as well that we shouldn’t have given up, but overall [I’m] pleased with the guys.”

The Bearcats responded 13 minutes later with a goal from junior back Joe Spires that found the top corner. After beating his defender and finding a hole in the Hawks’ defense, Spires placed a precise shot in the top right corner to extend Binghamton’s lead. BU scored again in the 72nd minute with Cozetti finding the back of the net from a nearly impossible angle on the left side of the goal, bagging his second of the game.

Junior midfielder Markos Touroukis added to the Bearcat tally with back-to-back goals, both assisted by sophomore midfielder Billy Clark. The explosive offensive performance was capped off by junior midfielder Shawn Coles in the 90th minute to close out BU’s 8-1 win.

“We were pretty good in possession, but we were very good at trying to get after [Hartford] attacking-wise,” Marco said. “Quick in transition, deliberate in attack. Something we’ve been talking about a lot and I thought all of the guys embraced it tonight and we got a really good performance from the group.”

Binghamton finished the game with 27 total shots, 15 of them being on goal. The team attempted eight corner kicks, and the trifecta of Bearcat goalkeepers tallied four saves altogether.

“I hope this is somewhat of a turning point,” Heanue said. “It’s nice to get a few goals in the back of the net, [get] some confidence for the guys. So hopefully, we can just keep that going forward.”

BU returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 1 against NJIT. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium in Newark, New Jersey.