ATHENS, Ga. - Host Georgia (1-1) stretched a 1-0 halftime lead with three second-half goals and pulled away from visiting Binghamton (1-1) 4-0 Sunday afternoon at Turner Soccer Complex. 

The SEC member Bulldogs returned all 11 starters from last season and proved too strong for a Bearcats squad that started six underclassmen.

Georgia opened the scoring in the 27th minute but BU held steady for the remainder of the half and trailed just 1-0 at the break. The Bulldogs doubled their lead just over six minutes into the second half and then put the game away with a pair of goals in a late 12-minute span.

"We came out with a strong sense of belief and purpose to start the match and came close to scoring a very early goal," head coach Neel Bhattacharjee said. "Unfortunately, as the first half wore on we dropped off a bit and gave up space and time to our opponent ... and a good team like Georgia will make you pay for that. We had good halftime adjustments and started off the second half really well. The timing of the second goal really hurt as it came against the run of play. And then we had to chase the game and gaps opened up. We will learn from this. It's a tough loss but one that we will benefit from in the end. The mistakes we made are fixable and we will improve greatly from this match."

Sophomore keeper Haylee Poltorak made seven saves for the Bearcats.

Binghamton, which opened its season with a 2-0 win over St. Bonaventure on Thursday, returns north to face St. Francis College Friday afternoon in Brooklyn.