VESTAL, N.Y. – Senior midfielder Noah Luescher and freshman midfielder Cooper Sayles each scored a goal, leading Binghamton (2-1-0, 2-1-0 AE) to a 2-0 win over UMBC (2-2-1, 1-2-1 AE) in an America East men's soccer game on Friday afternoon at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The victory improved the Bearcats' home record to a perfect 2-0-0 this year.

Luescher broke a scoreless tie in the eighth minute when he scored from close range off a pass from sophomore back Michael Bush. It was his team-high fourth goal of the season.

For the season, Luescher continues to lead the America East in goals per game (1.33) and points per game (1.67). He is also the first Binghamton player to score in three straight games since Jake Keegan during the 2011 season.

Sayles, meanwhile, iced the game with his first collegiate goal in the 88th minute. He finished a 2-on-1 rush with redshirt freshman midfielder Anthony Lazaridis and fired the ball into the net from close range.

"UMBC was a really good team coming into the match and I thought we were going to have a challenging day," he said. "The score may be 2-0 but it was very tight game. Noah continues to make goals out of nothing and I was really happy that Anthony and Cooper got that goal at the end of the match. They have been relentless in training."

In between those two goals, the Bearcats had to protect a 1-0 lead for 80 minutes. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper P.J. Parker made two big saves from close range to record the second solo shutout of his career.

UMBC was in the Binghamton end of the field for much of the second half. Still, the Bearcat back line of Bush, freshman William Noecker, junior Tim Leuenberger and junior Carter Beaulieu limited the Retrievers to seven total shots on goal.
"Our defense did very good today," Marco said. "What a great job getting a shutout against very good attacking team."

The shots were even at 7-7.

Binghamton heads to NJIT on Tuesday for a 3:30 p.m. conference match.

NOTES: Dating back to Oct. 8, 2019, Binghamton has now won its last five matches at home … Keegan scored goals in four consecutive games to open the 2011 season … Bush now has a team-high two assists this year – both on goals scored by Luescher.