BALTIMORE – A pair of first half goals surged Binghamton past the UMBC women’s soccer team on Senior Night at Retriever Soccer Park. The Bearcats defeated the Retrievers 3-0 in the America East matchup, eliminating UMBC’s chances for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament.

Despite picking up its first conference victory of the season, Binghamton (7-8-1, 1-5-1 AE) was also eliminated from contention in the league tournament, with Albany solidifying its ticket for the final spot in the tournament. With one game remaining in the season, the Retrievers drop to 1-10-5 overall and 0-4-3 in America East play.  

Prior to the contest, UMBC honored its four graduating seniors; Aly Gazarek (Aldie, Va./Freedom/South Florida), Sarah Kopytko (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North), Rachel McKee (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) and Sarah Purdum (West Fenwick Island, Del./Indian River), who played in front of their home crowd for the final time.

“It has been a transition this season,” head coach Leslie Wray said. “It is not easy to have a new coaching staff come in prior to your senior season, but I think that we had a lot of hope for this season to be different and I think it was. Here we were in one of our final two games with the chance to go through to the postseason.

“There are just some elements that we don’t have yet,” Wray continued. “We are going to keep building and building this program, but the four seniors have held tough. The team has transformed just throughout this season and they have been a big part of that.”

With playoff implications on the line, Binghamton jumped out in front, scoring 12 minutes into the contest on a strike from senior midfielder Emily Pape. Pape gathered a clearing pass from the Retrievers and delivered a shot off her right foot inside the right post from 25 yards out.

The Bearcats put UMBC at a two goal deficit in the 23rd minute as a through ball from senior forward Sarah Furminger found junior forward Kaitlyn Martin, who used a burst of speed to get out in front of the pack and slot a shot inside the right post for her first goal of the season to give Binghamton a 2-0 advantage.

Freshman midfielder Rebecca Raber added an insurance goal, the first score of her collegiate career, in the 75th minute on a pass from Martin.

Binghamton held a 14-10 shot advantage in the contest.

UMBC goalkeeper Lauren Kadet (Oakville, Ontario/St. Thomas Aquinas) recorded four saves in the contest and moved to 1-9-5 on the year, while the Bearcats junior keepers Carrie Martin and Stephanie Speirs combined for seven saves on the night. Martin earned the victory to move to 4-3 on the season.

The Retrievers conclude the regular season on the road at Albany. Kickoff is set for noon at the Turf at College Park.

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