BALTIMORE, Md. - First-place Binghamton women's soccer (7-2-4, 3-0-2 America East) peppered the goal with 14 shots, five corners, two crossbars and a near-miss header from three yards out but had to settle for a scoreless draw at UMBC (9-3-3, 3-1-1 AE) Thursday afternoon at Retriever Soccer Park.
With the tie, the Bearcats maintained their lead atop the standings (by one point over UMBC) with three games left in the regular season. Binghamton also extended the program's unbeaten streak against America East opponents to 19 games (12-0-7) dating back to the 2024 season.
"We're frustrated walking away with the tie but we will take the point and continue along," head coach
Neel Bhattacharjee said. "We had some good possession against an organized UMBC side and had high-quality chances. We will take some time this bye weekend and then get ourselves reset for an important two-match weekend coming up."
Senior keeper
Rebecca Kessler recorded her ninth shutout of the season - tied for the most in the entire country. Kessler made three saves and lowered her season goals against average to 0.38, sixth in the nation.
Binghamton had a golden chance to jump ahead in the game's eighth minute when junior wing back
Alexus Worrell worked deftly down the right side. Worrell sent a cross to the far post, where junior
Jahkaya Davis's header from the doorstep deflected off a defender just wide.
Senior forward
Paige Luke twice hit the crossbar, including a hard 12-yard carom with just 36 seconds left in the contest.
The Bearcats held a 14-10 shots advantage, 5-1 corners margin and a wide possession disparity, but couldn't find the winner.
It was Bing's second trip down to Baltimore in a five-day span after Sunday's originally scheduled game was postponed when UMBC's grass field was rendered unplayable by rain.
"I want to commend our players for dealing with some circumstances out of their control having to come back here," Bhattacharjee added. "They did so in a professional manner without letting it affect their performance."
The Bearcats have a week off before hosting NJIT in the team's final regular-season home game on Oct. 22.
