EMMITSBURG, Md. – Junior back Luke Yates scored in the 83^rd minute, lifting Binghamton (1-0-0) to a 1-0 victory over Mount St. Mary's (0-1-0) in a non-conference men's soccer match on Thursday night at the Waldron Family Stadium. The victory is the Bearcats' first season-opening triumph since 2021 and their first opening day shutout since 2017.

Yates' goal, which was the first of his career, finished off a corner kick by senior midfielder Billy Clark. He was stationed by the far right post and charged through a crowd to head the ball into the net.

From there, the Bearcat defense held the Mountaineers without a shot the rest of the match.

"I thought we played pretty well tonight," head coach Paul Marco said. "Billy was our MVP of the match. He covered a lot of ground and had a great start to his senior year. I also thought we were very well organized in the backfield."

Graduate student goalkeeper Dylan McDermott needed to only make a pair of saves to record the third solo shutout during his two years with the Bearcats. His biggest save of the match came on a leaping swat in the 37^th minute.

The starting back line of returners Will Mahoney and Carlo Cavalar as well as newcomers Rio Onwumere and Chris Comber limited Mt. St. Mary's to six total shots. Charlie Kaldor also played 50 minutes in the backfield as a substitute.

Total shots for the game were 14-6 Binghamton while the shots on goal were 5-2.

Binghamton returns home to face Le Moyne on Sunday at 1 p.m.

NOTES: Binghamton beat Colgate 2-1 in double overtime in 2021 in the season opener and started off the 2017 schedule with a 4-0 victory over George Washington.