VESTAL, N.Y. – Binghamton women's soccer begins America East Conference play on Sunday, when the Bearcats travel to Durham, N.H., to take on New Hampshire at Wildcat Stadium.
This is the first meeting between these two teams since the 2022 America East championship game back in November, which was won by New Hampshire on penalties 3-2 after a 4-4 tie in regulation. Binghamton came back from a 4-1 deficit in that game, with two of its final goals being scored by defender
Lexi Vegoda.
"We look forward to starting off America East Conference play this weekend," said Binghamton Head Coach
Neel Bhattacharjee. "We know how tight and competitive these matches can be, and I am expecting the conference this year to be as competitive as ever."
The Bearcats enter conference play with a record of 1-4-3. Over the past week, Binghamton lost a close game to Maryland 1-0 on Sunday, before tying Cornell 2-2 on Wednesday. Vegoda scored her third goal of the season against the Big Red, while freshman forward
Paige Luke picked up her second goal of the year. Junior goalkeeper
Kaitlyn Williams also tied her season-high total of five saves for the third time this season in that game.
New Hampshire enters Sunday's match with a 3-3-1 record. After winning three of its first four games to start the season, UNH has been unable to secure a win in its last three matches (two losses, one tie). Junior Meghan Guarente, who was named America East Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 28, is third in the conference in goals (4) and points (10). Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sally Rainey, meanwhile, leads the league in shutouts with three.
"Playing a formidable opponent in UNH on the road will be a difficult challenge to start off, but we will be up for the moment" said Bhattacharjee. "As a team, we have played a very tough non-conference schedule against opposition from well-respected conferences, and have seen different and challenging lineups, tactics, physicality, and speed of play, which we know now will serve us well as we begin the new phase of the season heading into America East play."
Sunday's game starts at 2 p.m.
