VESTAL, N.Y. - Juniors Sophia Garofalo and Paige Luke have been selected to the United Soccer Coaches (USC) All-Region Team, the association announced Tuesday. Both players were placed on the All-Atlantic Third Team with their first career all-region honors. The Bearcats now have produced nine all-region selections in the last nine years under head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. 

The pair join players from top-10 programs Stanford, Florida State, Notre Dame and Virginia as the Atlantic Region encompasses 31 teams from the ACC, America East and MAAC conferences. 

"Our program is proud of the outstanding seasons Paige and Sophia had this championship fall as well as this well-earned regional recognition," Bhattacharjee said. "Our team celebrates this achievement for them and recognize the high level of consistency we had through the year for this impressive standard to be met."

Garofalo was the America East Defender of the Year after anchoring a Bearcats back line that posted four shutouts and limited opponents to fewer than five shots per game. She became the first Bearcat to win Defender of the Year in the program's 24-year history in the America East. She also repeated as a first team all-conference selection. 

Luke capped a remarkable comeback season that saw her lead the conference in assists and earn first team all-conference laurels. She tallied six assists, six goals and tied for second in the America East in points per game (1.06) - all after an ACL injury shut down her 2024 season. Luke was the 2023 America East Rookie of the Year. 

The regional honors extend a steady stream of accolades for Garofalo and Luke, who each earned Academic All-District Team honors from the College Sports Communicators last week.  

Binghamton had two of the six all-region slots gained by America East schools after earning the program's third regular season title in the last four years. The Bearcats (10-2-5) set records with a 13-game unbeaten streak (8-0-5) and just one regular-season loss. The team produced a second unbeaten conference season in the last three years. In the last four seasons, the Bearcats are 20-3-9 (77%) - the highest win percentage among all America East members.


Binghamton Division I All-Region Selections
2001:    Tracy Kasmarcik (2^nd team, forward)
2002:    Tracy Kasmarcik (2^nd team, forward)
2004:    Tatiana Mathelier (2^nd team, forward); Meghan Taylor (3^rd team, defense); Deli Plourde (3^rd team, midfield)
2005:    Meghan Taylor (2^nd team, defense)
2008:    Amanda Casares (3^rd team, midfield)
2009:    Amanda Casares (3^rd team, midfield)
2017:    Kayla Saager (2^nd team, forward); Erin Theiller (3^rd team, defense)
2018:    Kayla Saager (3^rd team, forward)
2021:    Nicole Scudero (2nd team, defense)
2022:    Maya Anand (3rd team, forward); Olivia McKnight (3rd team, midfield)
2023:    Olivia McKnight (3rd team, midfield) 
2024:    Hannah Mimas (4th team, forward)
2025:    Sophia Garofalo (3rd team, defense); Paige Luke (3rd team, forward)