STORY LINES
- Binghamton (3-5-2, 0-0-1 AE) played to a scoreless tie in its America East opener last Saturday night. The Bearcats come into the Homecoming match ranked second in the conference with 1.80 goals per game. Junior forward Nikkos Psarras is second in the America East with six goals and fourth with 12 total points. Freshman midfielder
Noah Luescher is tied for second with four assists and is tied for fifth with 10 points.
- UMBC (6-2-2, 1-0-0 AE) is receiving votes in both major polls (United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News) and is ranked No. 16 by Soccer American. Last week, the Retrievers tied third-ranked Maryland 1-1 and defeated No. 12 New Hampshire 1-0. Sammy Kashai, the current America East Player of the Week, scored the game winner against the Wildcats. Kyle Saunderson and Greg Hauck each lead UMBC with three goals so far this season.
- This marks the 11th year that Binghamton will play on Homecoming night at the Bearcats Sports Complex. Binghamton is 5-4-1 in the previous decade's Homecoming matches and have averaged 2,031 fans each year. Last year, Nikkos Psarras scored twice as the Bearcats defeated previously unbeaten Buffalo 3-0. This year marks the first time UMBC visits the Bearcats Sports Complex on Homecoming Weekend.
- Binghamton's game against UMBC is the first of two men's contests to be aired on ESPN3 from the Bearcats Sports Complex. The Oct. 21 match against UMass Lowell is the other date. Earlier this season, the Bearcats' 5-1 win at Canisius on Sept. 23 was on ESPN. This coming Wednesday's game at Hartford is also an ESPN3 game.
- Binghamton leads the all-time series against UMBC 8-6-3, having won the previous two matches. Last year,
Ben Ovetsky's second-half goal lifted the Bearcats to a 1-0 road victory on Oct. 12. The previous season, Pascal Trappe and
Harrison Weilbacher netted second-half goals in the Bearcats' 2-1 Oct. 24 home victory on Family Weekend.
- In the latest RPI rankings, UMBC is No. 46 and Binghamton is No. 101. There are 205 NCAA Division I men's soccer programs competing in 2017.
