DURHAM, N.H. – No. 15 New Hampshire (7-0-2, 1-0 America East) scored twice in the opening half and defeated visiting Binghamton (2-5-1, 0-1 AE) 2-0 in the conference opener for both teams Friday night at Wildcat Stadium.

The Bearcats had the game's first quality chance when junior midfielder Noah Luescher ripped a free kick just over the crossbar three minutes into the contest.

New Hampshire opening the scoring in the 12^th minute. A run down the left side resulted in a cut-back ball into the middle, where Rory O'Driscoll drilled a shot into the top right corner from 25 yards out.

The Wildcats scored their other goal in the 38^th minute. An attack down the right side led to a point-blank shot in the middle. Freshman keeper Mats Roorda made a fantastic foot save on the shot but the rebound was knocked in by UNH midfielder Antonio Colacci.

Binghamton played a level second half and had four corner kicks but couldn't cash in.

"I thought we gave away the first half," head coach Paul Marco said. "We were scared and nervous and we didn't do the things I thought we were capable of doing, which made the game even more difficult. UNH is a very good team and we gave them a little too much time and space in the first half. We took some of that away in the second half and I thought we did a much better job ... but we ran out of time. I thought we were getting better through the second half of the game."

Sophomore keeper P.J. Parker replaced Roorda at half and made two saves in his 45 minutes of work, including a diving hand stop just 2:27 into the second half.  

Luescher had another opportunity in the 52^nd minute but his would-be goal was deflected away by a diving UNH keeper at the last minute.

Binghamton next hosts UMass Lowell on October 5 at the Bearcats Sports Complex.