Through a season filled with injuries, close games and many ups and downs along the way, the Terriers played their final home game of the season at Nickerson Field Tuesday night, defeating Binghamton University.
As the Terriers (6–7–4, 3–1–2 America East) played their final home game of the season, the players celebrated Senior Night for the graduating Terriers. Before the game, BU honored the only two seniors leaving the team, midfielder Michael Bustamante and defender Max White.
“I try to just take it one game at a time,” Bustamante said. “The guys were saying let’s do it for the seniors, but I said let’s just come out and play.”
Early on in the contest, it appeared the game might not be the way BU generally likes to play in the first half of games. During this year’s campaign, BU has generally started the first half attempting to control the ball while tiring out the opponent so they are set to make a move to score in the second half. However, in the first half, the ball stayed near midfield, with both teams going back in forth controlling the ball, and neither one getting significant possession.
“Overall we really didn’t control the game like we did against Harvard and Albany games,” said BU coach Neil Roberts. “At pieces we did. It was difficult for us. That’s credit to Binghamton to keep us under control like that.”
Despite the limited ball control that BU had in the early stages of the first half, it still got some good chances. Junior midfielder Anthony Ciccone drove the box with a couple of fancy dribbling moves to get around defenders and earn a corner kick for BU in the seventh minute. However, nothing came to fruition on the chance as sophomore forward Dominique Badji had his shot blocked after the corner.
In the 19th minute Ciccone again drove the box on the left side, this time getting a shot off, but it was saved on a diving stop by senior Binghamton (6–9–0, 2–4–0 America East) goalie Chris Hayen.
The Terriers were not the only team with chances, as Binghamton tried to jump on the board early as well. In the sixth minute forward Adam Whitehead took a deep shot from well outside the box, and it hit the crossbar, nearly giving Binghamton a one-goal lead. In the eighth minute, midfielder Tommy Moon attempted to score on a header, but the shot went just wide of sophomore goalie Nick Thomson.
Despite the Bearcats’ early good looks, the Terrier defense seemed to pick up the slack. White contained the threat of Tommy Moon. Junior midfielder Derek McCaffrey, who played a large part on the defense, worked well with White to stop the Bearcat attack. Not only did McCaffrey play an outstanding defense, but he did so while being injured, something not new to BU’s season.
“Derek McCafrey was injured,” Roberts said. “He was on crutches this morning. He asked for an injection before the game and he played well.”
After some chances for the Terriers to strike first, they finally did in the 27th minute. As usual, Ciccone dribbled the ball into the box from the left side, faking a few defenders in the process. The ball eventually got loose, and redshirt freshman forward Mac McGuire put the ball into the net, giving the Terriers a one-goal lead.
The Bearcats then went on a quick counter attack. In the 29th minute, Thomson made a diving save to stop sophomore defender Ben Nicholson on a good scoring chance. Then in the 31st minute, Thomson came way out of the net and stopped an opportunity with his head.
In the 51st minute, sophomore midfielder Cameron Souri fed Ciccone, but Hayen made a great stop to not allow another goal to get by him. Later in the 70th minute, Bustamante took a shot off a rebound but Hayen was up to the challenge again.
Although the Terriers had trouble finding the back of the net for a second goal, the Bearcats were also unable to score, thanks in part to great play from Thomson.
In the 72nd minute, Whitehead drove the box again and took a great shot, but Thomson came out of the net and made another outstanding save to keep the score at 1–0. In the 73rd minute, Whitehead earned corner for Binghamton, and Robbie Hughes got a shot off that was a soft and high. But Thomson grabbed the ball out of the air and somehow kept his momentum out of the goal, preserving his shutout. Binghamton got one last chance from senior forward Jake Keegan, but again Thomson made a terrific diving save, preserving the BU win. The Terriers will play their final regular season game of the year at the University of New Hampshire on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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