Looking to rebound from a second straight winless week, the Binghamton women’s soccer team went 1-1 over its two home game slate this past week — losing 1-0 to Syracuse on Thursday before triumphing 4-0 against Wagner on Sunday. Both games featured a potent Binghamton attack that outshot it’s opponents 26-21 on the week, although the team would only secure an effective finish in its Sunday victory.

“There are certainly some things that we want to work on,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “How we want to press, how we want to deal with the team that presses us … You can cover so much in preseason, but when you [have Thursday and Sunday games] it’s tough to get to those topics.”

The Bearcats (2-3-2) began the week by hosting the Orange (6-1-1), and they quickly had to battle against pressure from the Syracuse attack. After stuffing their visitors, it was senior forward Mackenzie Ryder getting off the first shot of the game in the fifth minute, going out wide left. From there, the opponents would continue to trade shots and looks. Leading the Binghamton attack was senior forward Hannah Mimas, who created multiple breakaways and looks but was unable to find the back of the net. Instead, Syracuse found the back of the net in minute 31, taking a 1-0 lead that the Orange carried into the break.

“In the first half, Syracuse kept their forwards up high,” Bhattacharjee said. “They would pinch in, and there were times that we tried to play through it, which wasn’t necessarily the right decision, or we would try to play a longer pass that was under hit and then it basically just kept us in that zone. When those moments were there, that’s where basically we fed into where Syracuse’s numbers were.”

Trying to equalize the contest, BU would take control of the ball to open the second period, but the resulting shot by freshman midfielder Anna Buckwalter in minute 48 would get blocked. Buckwalter would get another look in the 60th minute, but it would hit the crossbar. In the end, BU was not able to secure the equalizer, and Binghamton would go on to lose 1-0 to the Orange.

Staying in Vestal for Sunday’s contest to host Wagner (1-3-3), the opening stretch of play was defined by a strong back-and-forth between the sides. It was the Bearcats who found the back of the net first, with Mimas punching in a score off a Seahawk block right by the goal. Although lapses in Binghamton’s defense caused by low passes out of the box would give the Seahawks a few chances, BU would hold on tight to it’s 1-0 advantage for the remainder of the first half.

“We just had more belief,” Bhattacharjee said. “We were more committed. More committed in terms of our runs, more committed in terms of taking people on one [versus] one, more committed that when someone else had the ball that we were committed in terms of getting into the box for finishing opportunities.”

With its second victory of the campaign in sight, the Bearcats would up their offensive pace to begin period two. Binghamton would get the period’s first shot up courtesy of Mimas in minute 48, but it wouldn’t be until minute 66 that Binghamton’s goalscoring run would begin. First, Mimas would connect with Ryder who nailed her first goal of the year to make it 2-0. Then just two minutes later, freshman forward Jahkaya Davis would get around a logjam of Bearcats and Seahawks to find the back of the net for her first collegiate goal. Cementing the victory in minute 83 was Buckwalter, who punched in BU’s fourth score from the center of the goal. When all was said and done, the Bearcats had secured a 4-0 victory.

“We scored four good goals and four very different goals from four different goal-scorers,” Bhattacharjee said. “That shows how we could do things in different ways, and then that does become tough for teams to have to defend. It’s not just one or two things that we’re going back to the well over and over, because teams can suss that out, pick that out as they scout us. So the fact that we were able to do that a few different ways, that’s certainly really helpful.”

Binghamton will head back on the road to face Le Moyne this coming Sunday, Sept. 15 as it looks to secure its second straight win. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Ted Grant Field in Syracuse, New York.