VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton women's soccer will play for the America East championship and an NCAA tournament berth when the Bearcats (6-1) face longtime SUNY rival Stony Brook (5-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday at UMass Lowell's Cushing Field. Both teams advanced with semifinal wins on Thursday. Binghamton knocked off top-seed and host UMass Lowell 1-0 and Stony Brook followed with a 3-1 win over Vermont. 

Binghamton used a highlight-reel goal from senior midfielder Dora Hayes in the 54th minute to eliminate the host River Hawks. The Bearacts controlled play throughout the scoreless first half (8-3 shots) and after withstanding a brief surge from Lowell to begin the second, BU resumed its offensive push and capitalized 8:49 into the period. 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. Junior keeper Haylee Poltorak made four saves to notch her fourth shutout of the season. In the process, Poltorak lowered her league-leading goals against average to 0.36. 

"This team has really come together," head coach Neel Bhattacharjee said. "Our senior class changed the program right away ... they won a regular season title as freshmen and they changed the culture. You can see their impact on this program over the last four years and we would love to bookend their careers with a postseason title their senior year. This is an historic moment for our program and we're looking forward to it. But the historical stuff goes out the window at 5 p.m. and then it's a matter of executing your game plan and finding out who's up for the task at hand. We want to put together a complete 90-minute performance tomorrow."   

The Bearcats will be making their first appearance in the title game in 11 years, having last advanced in 2009. They will also be looking to capture the program's second America East title and reach the 48-team national tournament for the first time since 2004. Standing in the way is a reigning champion Seawolves team that has won five of six games against conference opponents this season - and by a 15-4 margin. 

Stony Brook has won two of the last three tournament titles and boasts five all-conference players, including three on the first team. In the semifinal, they overwhelmed the Catamounts with a 37-9 shots barrage but needed a burst of second-half goals (3 in 15 min.) to put the game away. It was the fifth time this season the Seawolves have scored three goals in a game. First team all-conference forward Alyssa Francese tallied her America East-best sixth goal of the season to give Stony Brook the lead in the 75th minute. She has four game-winning goals this spring. 

Since both schools joined the America East in 2002, the Seawolves lead the head-to-head series 13-3-3 and have gone 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings. The lone BU win was a 1-0 home victory in 2017. Binghamton and Stony Brook have met just once prior in the postseason - a 2-0 Seawolves win in the 2008 semifinals on Long Island.