After a 2-1 loss against Maine to open America East play last weekend, the Binghamton women’s soccer team’s losing streak extended with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of UNH for Sunday’s Homecoming match. The game was defined by a physical defensive struggle on both sides, with UNH capitalizing on a BU deflection for the game’s lone score before foul trouble in the second halted Binghamton’s offense.

“It was just an unfortunate day,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “I thought the effort was excellent. Certain things that we wanted to execute within our game plan came off very well. We just needed to be a little bit sharper in the final third to create that last finish and chance.”

The game went back and forth from the kickoff with UNH (7-2-1, 2-0 AE) attacking BU’s (3-5-2, 0-2 AE) goal during the third minute, but senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Williams blocked it out of the net. BU would respond with a push of their own, but the Wildcats’ back line worked to prevent Binghamton from getting off quality shots. While senior forward Hannah Mimas got off consecutive shots in minutes 16 and 18, neither found the back of the net. Instead, a Binghamton deflection in the 27th minute ended up at the feet of a Wildcat, who punched it in to give UNH a 1-0 lead, which it held going into the break.

“The goal threw us off a little bit and that just rattled us a little bit in terms of our play,” Bhattacharjee said. “Got out of that rhythm a little bit, but we just talked about continuing to do the same things in terms of what we wanted from our game plan in the second half.”

To kick off the second half, Binghamton pushed into the Wildcats’ end quickly, but a promising corner kick during the 46th minute ended up on the top of the net. From there, it was a story of Binghamton doing everything within its power to keep the Wildcats away from the back of the net. UNH’s first quality look of the period came in minute 50, but it ended up in Williams’ gloves. During this stretch of play, BU was called for fouls 11 times during the second half compared to the Wildcats’ two calls. Yet every time UNH generated a high-percentage opportunity off of a call, Williams and the back line kept the score at 1-0.

“We knew a little bit later on that we had to push numbers forward, so we’re going to have to give up some things in the back,” Bhattacharjee said. “Just something you got to do when you’re a goal down … We want to be the aggressor to get back into the game.”

Going into the final 15 minutes, the Bearcats would continue to hunt for big plays to equalize the contest. Minute 75 saw a UNH miscue generate a free kick for the hosts, but the resulting shot went too deep and BU failed to score. Binghamton continued to make runs at the UNH box, but almost every sequence would get broken up as the score stayed at 1-0. Unable to find the right opportunity, the Bearcats would end the day with a 0-2 record in conference play as they took the 1-0 loss to the Wildcats.

“Credit to UNH,” Bhattacharjee said. “We knew they were going to be a strong opponent, and it just happened to work out today that they had one more ball bounce their way versus us. We’ll rebound and go after the next one.”

BU is back on the road this week as they look to get back into the win column against UMBC on Thursday, Oct. 3. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore, Maryland.