With the regular season nearing its end and a ticket to the America East playoffs on the line, the women’s soccer team clinched a spot to compete for the conference title Sunday afternoon as they drew UMass Lowell 3-3 on Senior Day. BU showcased their talents with three scores in the first half in the first 25 minutes, but struggled defensively, allowing three goals in the second half, leading to the squad’s second tie in AE play.
“Credit for UMass Lowell in terms of them never giving up,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “In those moments we got to do a better job in terms of recognizing when a team is sending numbers forward. We can’t necessarily play through those numbers, we’ve got to play around it or over top of it. I think if we managed that better we could have gotten the full three points instead of settling for a tie.”
The hosts wasted no time getting the offense going to open the contest, with Binghamton (6-5-4, 3-2-2 AE) quickly getting into system in the River Hawks’ (4-9-3, 3-3-1 AE) third. A failed clear from UMass Lowell led to the game’s first shot coming off the foot of freshman midfielder Anna Buckwalter and into the goal to put BU up 1-0 in the ninth minute. BU would make the most of this momentum for the rest of the half, outshooting the River Hawks nine to one in the period. In minutes 14 and 25 — sophomore defender/forward Megan Baker and senior forward Mackenzie Ryder respectively tipped in missed BU looks to put Binghamton up 3-0. With the Bearcat backline ensuring ball control remained with BU, the hosts carried the lead into the break…