VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton women's soccer begins a road-heavy closing stretch to the regular season when the first-place Bearcats (7-2-3, 3-0-1 America East) face second-place UMBC (9-3-2, 3-1 AE) Thursday afternoon in Baltimore. After Sunday's scheduled game was moved up and then washed out between the league's top two teams, Binghamton will make a second trip down to Maryland and try again at 1 p.m. Thursday at waterlogged Retriever Soccer Park.

Binghamton has won three straight to extend the program's conference unbeaten streak to a remarkable 18 games (12-0-6) spanning three seasons. Last Sunday, the Bearcats defeated UNH 2-1 to keep their hold on first place at the halfway mark of the America East slate. Now Binghamton will play three of its final four games on the road, beginning with Sunday's test against perhaps the best UMBC team it has ever faced. 

The Bearcats have allowed just five goals all season (8th in NCAA) and have outscored conference opponents 12-2. Senior keeper Rebecca Kessler leads the nation with eight shutouts and ranks 11th in goals against average (0.42). Up front, senior forward Paige Luke ranks ninth in the country in assists (7) and is second in the America East with 15 points. Junior forward and reigning America East Offensive Player of the Week Jahkaya Davis has a conference-best seven goals. Freshmen Chelsea Donaldson and Taylor Gabel have three goals apiece. 

UMBC has the most overall wins (9) of any conference team and the Retrievers have won four of their last five. Three days after the Bearcats trounced UAlbany 6-0, UMBC took its turn and rolled to a 5-0 win. The team's lone conference loss was a 3-1 setback at Vermont on Sept. 20. Nine different players have goals for the Retrievers, who have already surpassed last season's win total (6). UMBC's other conference wins came against UNH (2-1) and NJIT (1-0). The Retrievers were picked to finish eighth (of nine) in the Coaches' Preseason Poll but appear poised to far outperform that prediction. 

Binghamton leads the all-time series 20-2-2 - its most dominant head-to-head mark against any America East opponent. But despite the wide margin, the last two encounters have been decided by just one goal each. In 2024, the Bearcats needed to rally from a 3-0 hole to win 4-3 in Baltimore and last season, Bing needed a second-half go-ahead goal from Anna Buckwalter to prevail 2-1 in Vestal. Binghamton has a 9-1 road record in the series with the lone loss coming in 2016. The Bearcats are 9-0 against UMBC since.