VESTAL, N.Y. - After a rare 10-day gap between games, Binghamton women's soccer (8-5-2, 2-3-1 America East) heads into its pivotal regular season homestretch when the Bearcats play at UMass Lowell (4-8-2, 3-2-1 AE) Sunday afternoon. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m. at Cushing Field. 

With two games remaining in the regular season, BU sits in sixth place - the final playoff spot - and can punch its postseason ticket with one more win. The Bearcats are two points ahead of seventh place Vermont and three points behind UMass Lowell. With three points afforded for wins, Binghamton can still finish anywhere from second to ninth in the standings, though BU faithful are eying a jump up to fourth place, which would result in a home quarterfinal game on Nov. 3. The Bearcats end the regular season by hosting last-place UMBC on Halloween night. 

After putting together a six-game unbeaten streak in late September, BU has dropped three straight games to slide in the standings. In the team's last outing, visiting Hartford scored the game's lone goal and despite limiting the Hawks to two shots, Binghamton suffered a 1-0 setback on Oct. 17. The Bearcats will look to rev up an offense that averaged 1.6 goals over the first 11 games but has been held to just one goal over its last four. 

Freshman midfielder Olivia McKnight leads the team with 12 points on four goals and four assists. Junior forward Essie Bonney has a team-high five goals and 10 points and classmate Dora Hayes has three goals and three assists for nine points. Sophomore forward Stefania Piantadosi had eight points in 11 games before missing the last four contests with an injury. She will dress for the Lowell game. 

In net, junior Mackenzie Hanna has played the last two games and has a 2.00 goals against average. Hanna made a career-high 11 saves in the 3-1 loss at Maine on Oct. 13. 

UMass Lowell has gone 3-1-1 in its last five games and raised eyebrows with a 2-1 road win over first-place Stony Brook on Oct. 13. The River Hawks pushed second-place Albany to overtime in their last outing (Oct. 20) before falling 2-1. Lowell also defeated Maine (2-1) and UMBC (4-1) in conference play. Five of the team's eight losses have come by the narrowest of margins, including four in overtime. 

Sophomore midfielder Emily Nelson leads the team with six goals and 13 points. The River Hawks have utilized three different goalkeepers in 2019, with graduate student Tijm Annerens starting most recently. Annerens made four saves in the overtime loss to Albany.    

Binghamton leads the all-time series against Lowell 5-2-1, but the River Hawks are unbeaten in the last two head-to-head matchups (1-0-1). Last October in Vestal, UML posted a 3-1 win. The teams tied 1-1 in 2017 in Lowell.