For the fifth time in the last six years, the third and fifth-seeded teams in the America East Men's Soccer Championship advanced to the semifinals. Third-seeded Binghamton beat sixth-seeded Stony Brook in a penalty kick shootout after the two teams played to a 1-1 and double-overtime and fifth-seeded Vermont posted a 2-1 comeback victory over fourth-seeded Albany Saturday.
The Bearcats and Catamounts both advanced to the semifinals where they'll play at second-seeded Hartford and top-seeded UMBC, respectively, for trips to the conference title game.
In the first game of the day, Bernard Yeboah broke a 1-1 tie with just four minutes left in the game to live Vermont (8-8-2) a 2-1 win and its second semifinal trip in the last three years.
Albany (4-9-6) took a 1-0 lead at 16:54 of the first half when Alfonso Pinheiro, the America East Co-Rookie of the Year, fired home a shot from 15 yards out.
The Catamounts, whose win was their first in the tournament since 2008, tied the game less than 15 minutes later. Brian Wright, a first-team all-leaguer, took a feed from Jaime Miralles and buried his eighth goal of the season home.
The game remain tied and appeared destined for overtime until Yeboah sent home a shot from the top of the box into the right-hand side of the net to win the game for the Catamounts.
In the nightcap, the two teams played a defensive first half with only four shots being taken.
Stony Brook (4-13-2) struck first just 1:32 into the second half. Thibault Davis, an America East All-Rookie selection heading in a free kick to give the Seawolves a 1-0 lead.
Binghamton (5-13-1), which will make its first semifinal appearance since 2008 as well, evened the score in the 78th minute on Tucker Sandercock’s score, his first of the season. The two teams combined for 16 shots in the second half and two overtime periods, but no more goals would be had, forcing penalty kicks.
In the shootout, Binghamton’s Robert Moewes, the America East Goalkeeper of the Year, Robert Moewes made three key saves and the Bearcats Bret Celeste won it on his team’s six attempt.
Both semifinal contests take place Wednesday 7 p.m. The two games can be seen on AmericaEast.TV.
Visit America East's Championship Central throughout the tournament for links to in-game coverage, postgame reaction and much more.