FINAL SCORE: Vermont 1, Binghamton 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. – For the third time in her career, Vermont senior Nikki McFarland scored the decisive goal against Binghamton to push the Catamounts into the playoffs. On Sunday, McFarland scored in the final minute to lift the Catamounts past the Bearcats with a 1-0 America East victory in the regular season finale.
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
CatamounTV Highlights
America East Championship Central
America East Championship Bracket (pdf.)
Vermont improves to 7-7-3 overall and 2-4-2 in America East. Binghamton drops to 6-10-2 overall and 2-6-0 in conference.
The Catamounts had some solid chances in the opening 20 minutes of the first half. In the sixth minute, Catie Green tried to wrap a shot into the top right corner of the net, but the attempt sailed over the crossbar.
In the 11th minute, Sarah Martin ripped a shot from beyond the 18-yard box but her shot flew wide of the post. A minute later, Brooke Jenkins sprinted one-on-one with a Bearcat defender to a loose ball but could not catch up to it before Binghamton keeper Haley Downin (2 saves) came out of the net to scoop up the ball.
Martin eyed the go-ahead score midway through the final period with a pair of chances. From the top left corner of the box, the midfielder tried to hook a shot into the net, but the ball had too much speed and flew wide of the near post. Only five minutes later, Martin was in the six-yard box with a chance but kicked a shot right at Downin for the save.
UVM keeper Coco Speckmaier (10 saves) came up with some timely stops for the Catamounts, including in the 74th minute. On a corner kick, Binghamton bent a shot in front of the net and after the Bearcats got a head on the ball, Speckmaier corralled the shot to preserve a scoreless game.
With 51 ticks remaining on the clock, UVM pushed the ball past midfield to set up the game-winning score. Green dished a through ball to McFarland, who dribbled forward past a Bearcats defender. McFarland fired a line drive past a leaping Downin and under the crossbar for the walk-off goal.
Vermont travels to Stony Brook on Thursday (Oct. 27) at 7 p.m. in the America East Quarterfinal round. Free live video is available in HD via AmericaEast.TV at the links below.
AMERICA EAST PLAYOFFS
Visit America East's Championship Central throughout the tournament for previews, links to in-game coverage and postgame reaction. The 2016 America East Tournament and Championship will be available exclusively on AmericaEast.TV.
