Baltimore, Md. - Binghamton senior forward Peter Sgueglia came off the bench and scored a pair of second half goals as the visiting Bearcats (6-6-3, 4-1-0 America East) defeated UMBC (4-8-3, 1-3-2), 3-1, in a league contest at UMBC Soccer Stadium.
The loss dealt a serious blow to UMBC's post-season aspirations, as the Retrievers have only two games remaining, at New Hampshire next Wednesday and vs. Hartford on Oct. 21. UMBC was in sixth place in the league at the beginning of the day, but seventh-place Boston University and eighth-place Hartford play tonight and have three games remaining on their league slate.
The first half was scoreless, as UMBC managed to deny the Bearcats on the only serious flurry of the first 45 minutes. The Retrievers appeared rejuvenated at the start of the second half and began to take control when a Binghamton counter-attack in the 58th minute quickly halted that momentum. Bearcat junior midfielder Matt Narode found space in the middle and got on the end of a Bryan Arnault short cross to score just inside the left post from ten yards out.
UMBC attempted to rally, but a swarming Binghamton defense limited good scoring opportunities. Then, Sgueglia took over, first cashing in on a breakaway in the 78th minute after a misplay by the UMBC defense. Retriever junior defender Bryan Moffa was given a red after the goal was scored and with UMBC a man down, Sgueglia outfought another UMBC defender for a loose ball and again came in alone and beat UMBC netminder Steve King in the 82nd minute of play.
The Retrievers managed to get on the board two minutes later, as senior midfielder David Feazell ran down Mike Novotny cross over the top of the Bearcat defense and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Jason Stenta to avoid the shutout.
The loss was just UMBC's second (10-2-5) in 17 America East Conference regular season home games. They fell to 1-3-1 in five meetings vs. Binghamton.
