Playing the first game of a three-game road stretch on Tuesday night, the Binghamton men’s soccer team defeated Lafayette 1-0. The first half of play saw both squads held scoreless, and it seemed as if the stalemate would persist. But yet again, for the third time this season, the Bearcats broke the deadlock after over 80 minutes of play. Despite Lafayette’s best efforts, they were unable to tie up the match, and Binghamton came out on top.

“Going into the game I thought it was going to be a very good competitive college game,” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “Maybe it exceeded it a bit. I think the game was really good … I really like our group, we’re getting better every training session. We walk off the field saying, ‘Yeah, we’re getting better today.’”

Lafayette (2-1-2) was quick to get out of the gate in the first half, nearly scoring in the second minute of play, but the shot bounced off the left post. They continued to apply offensive pressure, rattling off four more unanswered shots by the eighth minute. The two foes then traded possessions for the next seven minutes, both struggling to create meaningful offensive chances. In the 16th minute, however, Binghamton (3-3-1) began to attack the goal, securing three straight corner kicks, before graduate student back Chris Comber registered the game’s first shot on goal.

“I was very pleased with us on set pieces, attacking and defending,” Marco said. “We’ve been very good on defending corners. We’ve been very good on attacking corners.”

The momentum continued to persist in Binghamton’s favor, as disciplined defense shut down several attempted counterattacks. In the 26th minute, BU registered its second shot on goal, courtesy of junior back Luke Yates. In the final nine minutes of the second half, Lafayette attempted five consecutive corner kicks, but they were unable to break through the Bearcats’ defense, as the match remained scoreless.

‘In the Colgate game, we had two good chances on set pieces that we didn’t capitalize on,” Marco said. “Then against Lafayette, we had two really good chances again and we got a goal from one of them.”

The Leopards opened play again, getting a corner-kick opportunity just 68 seconds into the second half. BU quickly responded, with two offensive possessions ending in corner kicks. In the 63rd minute, Lafayette nearly managed to create a 1-1 opportunity, but a last-second hustle play from senior back Charlie Kaldor shut it down. BU nearly created a chance of their own, when Lafayette deflected a close-up shot from junior forward Lucas Constante.

“The compactness of the team has been excellent,” Marco said. “Everybody is playing their part defensively. I thought yesterday [senior back Carlo Cavalar] and [redshirt junior midfielder Sean Fitzgerald] were outstanding, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen them play. They covered ground, they put in tackles, they were efficient with the ball and they were excellent. And I think our two center backs [Comber] and [Yates] have been very good.”

The second portion of the second half saw BU take an aggressive offensive approach, and shots from Cavalar and Kaldor nearly saw them take the lead. With 7:04 left to play Binghamton was awarded its ninth corner kick of the match, and the ball was lobbed into the center of the box. Twenty-five seconds later, among the confusion, Comber came out with the ball and he buried it in the back of the net, for his first career Binghamton goal. The Bearcats held on for the remainder of the match, coming out with a 1-0 victory.

“I think we’ve got really good resilience,” Marco said. “The group can really figure things out, and they’re improving as the match goes on, and I think that our grit is pretty good.”

Binghamton will compete against Iona University on Saturday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Mazzella Field in New Rochelle, New York.