When a team is winless and playing its last conference game of the season, the team plays for respect. The Boston University men’s soccer team now knows to respect Binghamton University, as the Terriers (9-8-0, 5-2-0 America East Conference) fell 5-1 to the last-place Bearcats (5-10, 1-5-2 America East) in snowy Vestal, N.Y. in the final game of the regular season.
Even with the loss, the Terriers finished their regular season as the America East champions after the loss. BU coach Neil Roberts was not focused on that though, and instead keyed in on his team’s poor performance on Sunday.
“With them playing for a little bit more respect and us playing for what we were trying to play for, they wanted it more than we did,” Roberts said. “It was a lack of concentration, a lack of preparation, and a lack of being ready to go.”
The Terriers fell behind early when Binghamton forward Jake Keegan knocked in a corner kick in the 3rd minute. Things did not get any better for BU, when fifteen minutes later midfielder Ryan Walter blasted a shot from 20 yards out to move the Bearcats ahead 2-0.
BU’s only goal came off an indirect free kick when sophomore defender Kelvin Madzongwe knocked a ball past Binghamton goalkeeper Chris Hayen for the Terriers only goal of the game.
According to Roberts, Madzongwe showed his skill not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end as well.
“Kelvin was probably the only consistent player we had today,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately I had to take him off because I felt like he was putting so much energy out there that he was in danger of not being able to play in the next game.”
Keegan would tally another goal later in the first half, and then when Binghamton midfielder Adam Whitehead netted a goal in the 56th minute, Roberts subbed out freshman goalkeeper Nick Thomson.
“Nick wasn’t on today,” Roberts said. “It just wasn’t his day.”
However, freshman goalkeeper Matt Daugherty did not fare much better, as defender Jerome Robinson scored the fifth and final goal of the day for Binghamton in the 72nd minute.
Sunday’s game was supposed to be played on Saturday, but due to the inclement field conditions from the snow the game was played Sunday morning.
The Terriers had won back to back games before Sunday, outscoring their opponents 5-1 over that span. Luckily for BU, the team backed in to the first-place finish and first-round bye in the upcoming America East tournament because Stony Brook University and University of Maryland-Baltimore County also lost this weekend.
“Goal number one was getting the bye, and goal number two was winning the championship,” Roberts said. “Whenever you have a chance to win a championship you want to take advantage of it. We had that chance today and we should have taken care of business.”
Stony Brook suffered a 3-1 loss to the University of Hartford on Sunday night, securing the America East regular season title for BU. Had Stony Brook even tied the game, the regular season title would have been shared between the two teams.
“It means we stay at home and that is all that it means,” Roberts said. “As long as we keep winning we play at home, but it doesn’t really change anything. The main thing was to get a bye, and now our goal is to win these next two games [the conference semifinals and finals].”
BU will have to wait to find out its semifinals opponent, but it will be prepared for whichever team they have to face.
“It is just a matter of executing,” Roberts said. “Whoever it is, you have to make the best of it and deal with them.”
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