LOWELL, Mass. - Senior midfielder Dora Hayes ripped a 22-yard strike into the upper netting in the 54th minute and Binghamton women's soccer (6-1) blanked host and top-seed UMass Lowell (5-2-1) 1-0 in an America East semifinal game Thursday afternoon at Cushing Field. With the win, BU advances to Saturday's championship game where it will meet reigning champion Stony Brook.

After the Bearcats withstood a brief surge from Lowell to begin the second half, BU resumed its offensive push and capitalized 8:49 into the second half. Freshman midfielder Victoria McKnight sent a cross from the right side into the six, where it was cleared away by a UML defender. But the clear went straight to Hayes, positioned just outside the box. Hayes settled the ball and rifled a left-footed shot into the left corner of the net for her ninth career goal and first this season. 

Binghamton's back line then stood tall and kept the River Hawks' potent offense off the board the rest of the way. Lowell had gone unbeaten in conference play (4-0) and was averaging 2.6 goals a game over their last five but BU's defensive quartet of senior Erin Theiller, juniors Nicole Scudero and Kayla MacKenzie and freshman Emma Colling limited the opportunities and junior keeper Haylee Poltorak did the rest, making four saves to notch her fourth shutout in the last five games. It marked the first time UML was shut out since February - a span of five games. 

"As a team we are really excited with the result today and our opportunity to advance to the championship final," head coach Neel Bhattacharjee said. "Our players put in a tremendous performance against an outstanding soccer-playing UMass Lowell team.  Our focus was sharp and our execution and intensity were at a high level for 90 minutes.  All 23 players had a big hand in this well earned victory. Our assistant coaches played a large hand in coming up with our game plan and then it ultimately came down to the players doing it on the field and our bench playing a huge role too. We are ecstatic to move on and will enjoy this win but then we start our recovery for a quick turnaround for what will be another difficult matchup on Saturday."

The Bearcats owned play in the first half and built an 8-3 shots advantage. It wound up being a 13-9 margin for the game.

Playing postseason for the third time in the last four years, BU recorded its first playoff win in nine years and in the process, advanced to the America East championship game for the first time since 2009. On Saturday, BU will have an opportunity to capture the program's second title, having won it in 2004. With the crown comes the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, a 48-team affair that will be held in Cary, N.C.