Pipe Dream sports editors Jeff Twitty and E.Jay Zarett rank the Top 10 memorable moments of Binghamton athletics’ 2014-2015 season.
1. June 12, 2015 — Jesse Garn and Keishora Armstrong compete in NCAA championships
Sophomore jumper Keishorea Armstrong and senior middle-distance runner Jesse Garn made history for the Binghamton track and field teams, becoming the fourth and fifth Bearcats from either side to qualify for the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in May. In the long jump event, Armstrong recorded a distance of 19-0 1/2, following fouls on her first two attempts, to capture 24th overall in the event. The mark was good enough to earn Armstrong an All-America honorable mention. In the men’s 800 event, Garn sent shockwaves with a time of 1:49.74. His fourth-place finish earned Garn first team All-America honors with the best NCAA Championship result by any BU athlete since 2012. Both will return next season for the Bearcats.
2. December 5, 2014 — Jordan Reed leaves program
Forward Jordan Reed was a star for the Bearcats in his first two seasons in the program. Reed averaged 16.6 points and 9.5 rebounds per game as a freshman and followed that up by averaging 15.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore. However, Reed’s minutes decreased significantly in his junior season. He was suspended for BU’s November 25 game at Army for missing shootaround and one day later Reed announced he was taking a leave of absence from the team, officially declaring his intention to transfer nine days later.
3. May 9, 2015 — Softball wins first America East title
With the graduation of ace pitcher Demi Laney after the 2014 season, the softball team headed into 2015 with a question mark on the mound. But behind the powerful bats of junior catcher Lisa Cadogan and junior outfielder Sydney Harbaugh — both AE first team all-conference selections — the Bearcats finished the regular season with a 24-21 record and landed the third seed in the AE tournament. After capturing an opening-round victory, the Bearcats fell to top-seeded Stony Brook. But BU rallied from the loser bracket, capturing three straight wins to earn the title. Binghamton will return all but one player on its roster for the 2016 season.
4. December 8, 2014 — Men’s basketball defeated by DII Caldwell University
Just three days after the departure of Reed and mired in a six-game losing streak, Division II Caldwell College seemed like a perfect opponent to get BU back in the win column, but the Bearcats came out flat. The Cougars scored the first nine points of the game and eventually built a 17-point lead on Binghamton. The Bearcats eventually fell, 63-52, in arguably the worst loss of the Dempsey era while dropping BU’s record to 1-9.
5. March 19, 2015 — Tyler Deuel and Jack McKeever wrestle their way to Nationals
After taking the top prize at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships (EIWA), senior heavyweight Tyler Deuel won his opening match at the 2014-15 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis in March. Also making the trip to the NCAAs was 184-pound Jack McKeever, earning sixth overall in his weight class at the EIWA Championships. Thirteenth-seeded Deuel was victorious over his first opponent — Pittsburgh freshman Ryan Solomon — but fell in the later rounds of the championship to tough competitors out of Oklahoma State and Iowa, ending his season with a team-best 28-6 mark. Dropping both of his matchups in St. Louis as an unseeded entrant, McKeever is set to return to the mat for BU this winter on the heels of a 23-18 season and as an anchor of Binghamton’s consistently impressive upperweight division.
6. March 6, 2015 — Jasmine Sina named America East Rookie of the Year
New Bearcat head basketball coach Linda Cimino inherited a barren roster in her first year at the helm of the program during the 2014-15 season. BU had compiled a 5-25 record the year prior and returned only six players on its roster, many of whom had seen little to no time on the court. But within days of signing on to coach the Bearcats, Cimino landed a star player in point guard Jasmine Sina. Sina set the conference on fire, averaging 14.8 points and three 3-pointers made per game en route to becoming only the third player in school history to be named the conference’s Rookie of the Year. Sina and teammate Imani Watkins — who was also named to the AE all-rookie team — return next year, forming one of the most potent offensive backcourts in the conference.
7. November 1, 2014 — Men’s Cross Country team takes first at America East Championships
Placing four runners in the top-11 finishers, Binghamton took first at the 2014 America East Championships. Seniors Matt Johnson and Jesse Garn led the pack for BU with times of 25:19.14 and 25:19.91, respectively. Senior Ethan Hausamann and junior Eric Holt clocked in with respective times of 25:21.51 and 25:21.77 to round out the four-man pack of Bearcat finishers. Johnson, Garn and Hausamann each additionally collected all-conference honors for their top-10 finishes.
8. February 18, 2015 — Men’s basketball defeats Vermont
After enduring a 14-game losing skid in the middle of the 2014-2015 season, the Bearcats rebounded to win five America East games, the highest conference win total the program had recorded in five seasons. There was no bigger victory than when BU topped Vermont, who finished second in the AE last season, 76-69, at the Events Center. The Bearcats rallied from a five-point deficit with just under five minutes to play to beat the Catamounts, who had defeated BU in five consecutive contests heading into the matchup.
9. February 14, 2015 — Baseball defeats SEC member Auburn
After dropping its opening game, 2-0, to Southeastern Conference opponent Auburn, Binghamton earned its first victory of the season in Alabama against the Tigers, 11-5. The victory was just the second in program history over an SEC opponent. But after capturing back-to-back AE championships in 2013 and 2014, the Bearcats took a step back in 2015. BU finished with just a 17-24-2 overall record and failed to qualify for the America East tournament.
10. October 30, 2014 — Women’s soccer season ends in PKs against UNH in AE quarterfinal
Following two consecutive double-overtime victories to secure the sixth seed in the America East playoff, Binghamton took its third straight game into extras against third-seeded New Hampshire. But, with the score tied at one, BU fell in PK’s, 4-2, to end its season. The playoff appearance was BU’s third in four seasons, driven by a 2014 campaign in which Binghamton allowed conference opponents to score two or more goals on only two occasions. The Bearcats are set to bring back leading scorer and point leader, midfielder Katie O’Neill, for her junior season along with seven other Bearcats who started 10 or more games in 2014.