The UMBC women’s soccer team defeated America East Conference (AEC) rival the Binghamton University on Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Retriever Soccer Park by a score of 3-1. The win brings the Retriever’s record to 6-9-1 overall, and 2-4-1 in America East play, putting UMBC in post-season contention.
The final home game for the Retrievers was preceded by a ceremony celebrating seniors Alexa Quaranta, and her sister, Preslie Quaranta, Dee Morris and Shannon Phillips.
Head coach, Leslie Wray, showed pride in her team’s intensity saying, “It’s always an emotional game when it’s senior night. It’s great to see their [seniors] emotion, but it’s also the responsibility of the rest of the team to keep the energy up.”
Emotions ran high in the 26th minute, when Preslie Quaranta kicked the ball high over Binghamton’s defender to her sister, Alexa Quaranta. Alexa broke away and scored the first goal of the game in the top left corner of the net making the score 1-0 at halftime.
The second half began with a missed penalty kick opportunity for UMBC. However, soon enough junior a penalty kick came again and was successfully executed by junior Gabby Boehmer making the score 2-0 UMBC.
Binghamton was quick to respond as senior Bearcat, Leighann Bennett, took a deflected shot to an open net and closed the gap to 2-1.
The final UMBC goal came once again on a penalty kick when Binghamton’s goalkeeper received a red card and a swift ejection from the game. In the 88th minute, all eyes were on Preslie Quaranta as she took the shot that became her final goal on her home field. The ball grazed the goalie’s hands but still slipped into the net making the final score 3-1.
The upset over Binghamton puts UMBC only one win away from postseason play.
“This was a critical game in so many ways,” Wray said. “We always want to go into the final game with something to play for, and now we have that motivation.”
She also notes that there is still room for improvement adding, “We still need to be more disciplined in how we finish a game and approach our attacks. Other than that, it’s all about staying healthy and fresh.”
The Retrievers will face another AEC rival, and reigning conference champions, the University at Albany in Upstate New York on Sunday, Oct. 23. UMBC has yet to claim a win on the road, and Wray acknowledges this saying, “We know the game against Albany will be tough. We need to ride the momentum from this win and keep our emotions high into Sunday.”
Kickoff for Sunday’s game will begin at 1 p.m.