Binghamton, N.Y. - The Binghamton University Women's soccer team has been re-building for quite some time now and it was last year when their efforts were shown. The Bearcats surprised some people when winning the America-East Conference, which led them to the semi finals of the America East Tournament. Unfortunately, they fell short of 1 goal after their 1-0 loss to the University of Vermont. 

This year's team entered pre season with a big focus on fitness, values and relying on their teams depth to win those close games.

The Bearcats finished last season with an overall record of 11-4-4. What stands out? Well, the ties of course and the amount of overtime games they entered. Four out of their eight America East games went into over time, where they went 3-0-1, making their depth the difference maker in their success

"Depth is really critical and last season was a great example of that" said head coach Neel Bhattacharjee.

"Those small details, having that depth, really does matter and you will see a lot of those one goal games being decided by that, so it's absolutely critical."

"When you're exhausted, who's going to get the last goal and who's going to push a little more" said Senior Captain Kayla Sager.

"Fitness is something we take pride in and that's what we've been most focused on this pre season and we're off to a good start" Kayla said.

This year's upperclassmen group will continue their leadership roles on and off the field. Players like, captains Patty Loonie and Kayla Saager. As a team, the girls picked seven different values to represent them and embody them as a team for the 2018 season.

"The team selected that they wanted to be positive, selfless, tough, resilient, relentless, focused and disciplined" said Neel.

The Bearcats regular season kicks of Friday August 17 at St. Bonaventure University.