VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton women's soccer (7-1-2, 2-0 America East) begins a two-match week with a road test at NJIT (5-3-3, 0-1-1 AE) Thursday night in Newark. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
The Bearcats bring a seven-game unbeaten streak into the contest and have opened conference play with back-to-back one-goal wins over UMBC (2-1) and Bryant (3-2). On Sunday in Smithfield, R.I., the team prevailed in a wild game that featured five goals and three VAR reviews (in 26 minutes) - all of which overturned the original field decision. Junior back
Megan Baker converted two second-half penalty kicks and classmate
Rebecca Kessler saved a penalty with 2:03 left.
Baker was rewarded with America East Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday while Kessler continued her penchant for stopping PKs. She has stopped two of three attempts this season and Bearcat fans still remember her heroics last November when she stopped four of six penalties in Binghamton's shootout win over Vermont in the America East quarterfinals.
Binghamton moved up to No. 64 in the NCAA RPI rankings - the highest America East team on the list. The slot at 64 out of 350 teams is the highest in program history and puts the Bearcats among the top 18 percent of Division I programs in the country.
Despite being kept off the scoreboard against Bryant, the forward tandem of
Jahkaya Davis (6 goals, 14 pts.) and
Paige Luke (5 assists, 13 pts.) still rank 1-2 in the conference in points.
NJIT is coming off a 2-1 home loss to UAlbany on Sunday. The setback snapped the Highlanders' seven-game unbeaten streak. In the game, NJIT held a wide margin in shots (25-15) and corners (13-3) but the Great Danes capitalized on a collision between the NJIT keeper and defender and netted the game-winner with just 41 seconds remaining. The team was picked to finish seventh of nine in the Coaches' Preseason Poll after going 4-10-3 (1-5-2 AE) last season. But NJIT posted early-season wins over UMass (3-0), Marist (3-2), Wagner (2-0) and Seton Hall (3-1) to turn heads. The team opened conference play with a 1-1 tie at UMass Lowell on Sept. 21. Senior all-conference forward Briana Andreoli ranks second in the conference with five goals and 13 points.
Binghamton owns a 6-0-1 cushion in the all-time series, but last season the teams played to a 1-1 draw in Vestal. In that game, Senior forward
Mackenzie Ryder scored a first-half goal but visiting NJIT got the equalizer early in the second half and despite a big cushion in shots and possession, Binghamton had to settle for the tie. The Bearcats held a 10-3 shots cushion in the second half and had two dangerous free kicks in the final 21 minutes but couldn't break the tie. Binghamton held 64 percent of the possession in the game.
