Coming off a 2-1 win against UMass Lowell, Binghamton men’s soccer played its second to last game of America East (AE) conference play against No. 25 Bryant for their annual senior night game on Friday, dropping the contest 5-0. After giving up three goals in the first half, BU conceded two more goals in the second half of the match and the Bulldogs won the contest 5-0.

“Every year, we, Binghamton University, attract such [great people],” said Binghamton head coach Paul Marco. “[Who] the guys are and how they interact in the relationships they build with not just [their] teammates, but with the staff and with the administration. It is sad to see guys graduate and move on, very happy and proud for them because they go on to do great things in life, some of them will take the world on.”

The first half started with an early attempt from Binghamton (4-9-2, 2-2-2 AE) as they looked to get on the board early into the game. Although the Bearcats spent the first few minutes on offense looking for an opportunity to find the back of the net, it was Bryant (13-1-2, 3-1-2 AE) who would get the first goal. In the fifth minute of the game, Bryant took possession of the ball from BU and scored to go up 1-0.

The Bearcats would regroup and look for the chance to get a goal for themselves. Senior midfielder Markos Touroukis and graduate student midfielder Jack Green both took shots in the span of six minutes to even the score. The Bulldogs’ goalkeeper prevented that from happening and the score stayed at 1-0. In the 13th minute, Bryant capitalized on an opportunity where they had a breakaway and scored to take a two-goal advantage.

“There were moments in the game where we have chances to get goals and [if] we don’t get goals, their guys would have scored those goals,” Marco said. “So I guess that’s the biggest difference we create — two great chances, and they get goals that were probably harder than the chances we created.”

As both Binghamton and Bryant fought for the ball, it was the Bulldogs who would dominate the half. The Bearcats had several opportunities to find the back of the net but just could not find a way to finish. Once possession was turned back to Bryant, the Bulldogs scored once again. BU entered halftime down three goals.

“When the game went 3-0, I took our defender and moved [Bush] up front to try to and get a goal back,” Marco said. “It doesn’t matter if we lose five goals or three goals it’s still [a] loss, so for us it doesn’t matter.”

Going into the second half the Bearcats looked to make a comeback. Possession fluctuated between the two teams, with tension running high as they both looked for an opportunity to shoot the ball. The first shot would come from the Bulldogs, but sophomore goalkeeper Jack Root, made a save to prevent a 4-0 deficit.

“To start the second half off we talked about trying to get goals back,” Marco said. “We were going to move [Bush] and that put us [in a] vulnerable [spot] to concede a goal again. Disappointed in the one goal we conceded, but the other one is directly a result of us moving [Bush] up front.”

For the majority of the half, the two teams exchanged the ball as it went up and down the field. The Bearcats would fight hard to try and get on the board. In the 76th and 78th minutes of the game, however, Bryant would score two more goals. Despite the game almost at an end, BU would still look to get on the board, but was unable to break through, and the game ended 5-0, in favor of the Bulldogs.

“I think that in a match like tonight, it’s a difficult one,” Marco said. “We give up two errors for the first two goals and we just wet the bed so badly. I just didn’t expect that from our guys the way we had been playing.”

BU will hit the road once again to take on UMBC on Tuesday, Oct 31. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.