Box Score Box ScoreHighlightsContact:
John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
VESTAL, N.Y. - Despite a wide disparity in shots and possession, Binghamton women's soccer had to settle for a 0-0 double overtime draw against Maine in its America East opener Sunday afternoon from the Bearcats Sports Complex.
Binghamton held a 16-4 shots margin, hit two crossbars and had a season-high nine corner kicks but couldn't capitalize on its control of play throughout.
"Our finishing just wasn't there today," head coach
Sarah McClellan said. "The quality of chances was good ... I don't know how many times we hit crossbars and were one toe away from an open goal. It was a great battle and I thought we were a little unlucky to not come out on top, but we'll take the point and move on."
The Bearcats put constant pressure on Maine's defense and had several golden opportunities, most notably shots off the crossbar in the first half and again in the first overtime. Maine stepped up with an offsides trap that induced a season-high 11 offsides whistles, a few of which negated breakway through balls. Black Bears keeper Claudia Dube-Trempe played aggressively in a near-sweeper position and picked off numerous feeds around the top of the box.
Binghamton's back line stood firm all afternoon, notching the team's third shutout of the season. Senior
Gaby Gold didn't have to record a save in the first half and freshman
Katie Hatziyianis went the rest of the way (65 min.) and picked up two saves to complete the shared shutout.
"Our back line stayed organized and didn't allow Maine anything dangerous," McClellan said. "We were committed to getting the shutout and that was a positive today."
In the 26th minute, BU created its first strong scoring opportunity when junior forward
Samantha Crane intercepted a pass deep in Maine's end and pushed a through ball into the box from the right. A defender deflected it to junior forward
Stephani Church, whose right-footed blast banked off the crossbar from 15 yards. Less than five minutes later, BU had two free kicks in succession - the first led to a near-miss header at the far post by sophomore midfielder
Katie O'Neill and the second resulted in a shot wide from senior back
Connie Gormley.
The Bearcats held a 5-1 edge in shots during the first half but were called offsides six times.Midway through the second half, BU had two more close calls. Crane was taken down in the box with 20:30 remaining in regulation but drew no whistle. Just 1:28 later, the Bearcats pressured off a corner kick and O'Neill had a point-blank shot saved by Dube-Trempe on a diving deflection to her right. With 12:21 left, senior midfielder
Emily Nuss intercepted an outlet pass from the keeper and attempted to send a 35-yard shot into the unoccupied goal but it didn't have enough lift.
Early in the first overtime, Crane had a cross trapped and cleared just yards off the goal line and then junior forward
Katherine Corcoran blistered a one-timer off the crossbar. In the final three minutes of the extra period, BU had two more chances with redshirt freshman
Jacque Rice getting in deep against two defenders before losing the ball and then Church spinning and sending a 12-yard left-footed shot just wide.Neither team had much left for the second overtime.
Binghamton hosts UMass Lowell at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
NOTES
The 2014 season is BU's 13th season of America East play ... The Bearcats lead the all-time series against Maine, 8-5-3 ... The Black Bears were picked third in the Coaches' Preseason Poll. Binghamton was slotted seventh ... Each America East team plays eight conference games (1 point for ties, 3 pts. for wins) and the top six in the final standings advance to the postseason ... This season is the 10-year anniversary of BU's conference-championship team of 2004 ... The Bearcats have advanced to the conference tournament in eight of the last 10 years.
