Poltorak makes two critical saves in second overtime
8/30/21 by Ian Mills
On Sunday afternoon, the Binghamton women’s soccer team went down to the wire against Temple. The Bearcats fought hard into double overtime and were hamstrung by a disappointing performance on offense, but the team was able to go 110 minutes without allowing a single goal thanks to senior goalkeeper Haylee Poltorak.
In the 109th minute, the Owls were awarded a free kick after a foul and nearly capitalized off a precise pass fired into the box. The ball was headed by Temple and a diving Poltorak parried the ball away from net. However, seconds later, Temple pushed the ball toward the goal line one more time on a follow-up, but Poltorak, while down on the turf, was still able to block the would-be game-winner. Swatting away both shots, Poltorak allowed BU to tie the match 0-0.
“I’m thinking what everyone else in the stadium is thinking,” said Binghamton head coach Neel Bhattacharjee. “‘Uh, oh,’ and [Poltorak] somehow pulled that save to keep the tie. But, at the same time, we’re pretty disappointed that it came down to that.”
Poltorak played all 110 minutes without allowing a shot to get by her and accumulated six saves, putting her season total at 23 through four games. She now has two clean sheets to her name this season.
The Bearcats (2-1-1) struggled in the first half as they were not able to put up a single shot on goal. This was due in part to Temple’s (0-1-2) strong defense near the goal line as well as Binghamton’s errant passing and frequent mishits.
“We’re going to demand more of ourselves,” Bhattacharjee said. “We’re just looking forward to moving on, we have a tough stretch of games coming up.”
In the eighth minute, BU had an opportunity to take an early lead as a breakaway for senior forward Stefania Piantadosi was created quickly in just three passes down the field. Piantadosi was wide open on the right flank but her kick sliced right, causing the ball to roll out of bounds.
“We’re disappointed with results, but more so just our own performance,” Bhattacharjee said.
“We didn’t play a sharp first half at all, there were a number of unforced errors, just uncharacteristic turnovers that we made. That obviously didn’t suit us well in terms of our play in the first half.”
Half-time adjustments gave BU better opportunities in the second half. The Bearcats doubled their total shots from the first half from four to eight. Of the eight second-half shots, four of them were on goal.
Binghamton’s best opportunity came in the 69th minute. Junior midfielder Olivia McKnight sliced through the defense and shook one defender opening a lane to find Piantadosi. Piantadosi found a cutting sophomore midfielder Molly McClelland, whose shot was stifled by the Temple goalkeeper right at the net.
“The big thing is that we made sure to play toward Temple’s defensive half more in the second half,” Bhattacharjee said. “We wanted to get more width from our wingers and get opportunities from there. And being clear in terms of our possession.”
Next up, the Bearcats will take on Syracuse University on Thursday, Sep. 2. Binghamton has a 6-1 all-time losing record versus the Orange, and the matchup will be a continuation of a string of away games for BU.
“We’re going to be at Syracuse, we’re looking forward to that,” Bhattacharjee said. “It’s time to get some rest and recovery now and we have a good one coming up on Thursday night.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Syracuse University Stadium in Syracuse, New York.
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