VESTAL, N.Y. - Regular season champion and No. 1 seed Binghamton women's soccer begins its postseason run by hosting No. 4 UMass Lowell in a semifinal match Thursday night. The teams square of at 6:07 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex in a game broadcast on ESPN+. 

Binghamton (6-4-6, 5-0-3 America East) drew a first-round bye, thanks to the team's second straight outright regular season crown. UMass Lowell (4-5-7, 3-2-3 AE) advanced with a 3-1 win over No. 5 NJIT Monday night. The winner of Thursday's game advances to the America East championship game, held Sunday afternoon at the highest-remaining seed. If Binghamton advances, it would host the title game for the second straight year at the Bearcats Sports Complex. Second-seeded Maine hosts No. 6 Vermont in the other semifinal. Vermont eliminated reigning tournament champion New Hampshire in a surprise quarterfinal result. 

The Bearcats completed their first-ever unbeaten conference season to win the program's second straight regular season title by three points over second-place Maine. Binghamton became the first team since 2012 to finish unbeaten in league play and joined Boston University (5x) and Hartford as the only programs to go unbeaten during the Bearcats' 22 years in the America East. Eighth-year head coach Neel Bhattacharjee and his staff orchestrated a nine-game unbeaten streak to end the regular season. The Bearcats earned the No. 1 tournament seed and host role for the second straight season after posting five conference wins and outscoring league foes by a 15-6 count.

Two-time reigning America East Midfielder of the Year and four-time all-conference selection Olivia McKnight leads the Bearcats in point production with four goals and five assists. Fellow first team all-conference selection Lexi Vegoda has four goals and four assists from her back line role. Rookie of the Year Paige Luke and sophomore forward Lauren Clark have four goals apiece to lift the offense. Joining Vegoda with conference accolades were fellow defensive standouts Brooke Herber (second team all-conference) and junior keeper Kaitlyn Williams (second team) plus All-Rookie selection Sophia Garofalo. 

Lowell has a five-game unbeaten streak heading into postseason (3-0-2) - a streak they started on the heels of a 2-0 home loss to the Bearcats on Oct. 8. The River Hawks are led by a pair of all-conference selections: senior forward Calliste Brookshire (4 goals, 6 assists) and graduate midfielder Julia Edholm (5 goals). Redshirt senior keeper Taylor Burgess has a 1.44 goals against average and four shutouts. 

Binghamton leads the all-time series 9-3-1, including a 4-1 record in Vestal. Three-and-a-half weeks ago, the teams met in Lowell and BU scored a goal in each half to earn a 2-0 win. Vegoda scored on a penalty kick in the 32nd minute and sophomore forward Samiya Reid added an insurance goal in the 83rd minute. Williams made seven saves to thwart a River Hawks attack that produced a 19-9 shots advantage.