NEW YORK — Winners of two straight and three of its last four, Columbia men's soccer (3-3-2) travels to Binghamton for a non-conference matchup Tuesday evening. Kickoff from Bearcats Sports Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Fans can watch the action live on
ESPN+.
Live stats will be provided by
bubearcats.com. Fans can also keep up with the match on Twitter by following
@ColumbiaMSoccer.
5 THINGS TO KNOW
1. DENIS DELIVERS
John Denis heads into Tuesday's contest as the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week. The senior attacking midfielder polished off his second five-point performance of the season in Saturday's Ivy League-opening victory against Brown, netting two goals and an assist that included a 74th-minute winner. Denis leads the Ivy League in total points (13), shares the league lead in goals (5) and ranks among the NCAA's top 50 in total points, points per game (1.63) and goals per game (0.63). He joins first-year keeper
Michael Collodi, who picked up Rookie of the Week honors last Monday, as the two Lions to earn Ivy League accolades on the campaign.
2. HISTORICAL RUN OF GOALS
Columbia has run its streak of games with a goal to 16 matches dating back to last season. The scoring streak ties for the fifth-longest in program history and is Columbia's longest since a 16-game streak that took place between the 1991 and 1992 campaigns. Only four other goal-scoring streak have been longer. The Lions put together three separate 18-game streaks through the 1980s. The program record for most consecutive games with a goal is 24, spanning every match of the 1979 Final Four season and the first five matches of 1980.
3. 3 GOALS, 3 POINTS, 3 YEARS RUNNING
Columbia got the result it was hoping for to start the Ivy League season, scoring three times on Saturday to take all three points against Brown.
John Denis scored the game's opening tally and the game's final tally while also assisting a 44th-minute goal by
Matthew Swain. It marked the third consecutive season the Lions scored three goals in their Ivy opener and came away victorious. All three of those results have come against the Bears.
4. RESILIENCY
Resiliency has been a critical part to Columbia's success this season. That characteristic was evident again on Saturday after the Lions bounced back from surrendering a 2-0 lead to still come away with a 3-2 victory over Brown. Columbia had a similar 3-2 win two weeks prior at UConn, surrendering two separate leads before a
John Denis 84th-minute winner sent the Lions back to New York on top. Additionally, Columbia has been able to come away with two results from losing positions.
Sebastian Gunbeyi scored a 79th-minute equalizer and Columbia held on with 10 men in overtime to draw Omaha in the season opener (Sept. 6). A week later, Denis provided a first-half equalizer to help the Lions recover from an early Army goal in a 1-1 draw at Commisso Stadium.
5. THE SERIES
Columbia has been successful in all five tries against the Bearcats. Tuesday will mark the sixth series contest in the last seven seasons, with the inaugural matchup coming in 2013 and resulting in a 2-1 Columbia victory in New York. Four of the five previous contests between the two sides have been decided by a single goal. The only series matchup to be decided by more came last year, when the
Kynan Rocks turned a hat trick in a 3-0 Lions win. Tuesday's contest will be the third to take place in Binghamton.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
The Bearcats will be looking to put an end to a streak of three straight matches that adds up to 290 minutes without a goal. They played Monmouth to a scoreless draw back on Sept. 21 and followed it up with a 2-0 loss at New Hampshire and a 1-0 loss at home to UMass Lowell. Binghamton's last victory was back on Sept. 17, defeating Lehigh by a score of 2-1.
Noah Luescher owns four of the Bearcats' eight goals on the season and is the only player with more than two points to his name. Binghamton has been outscored 16-8 on the campaign. Mats Roorda has started the majority of the games in goal but was replaced by P.J. Parker in Binghamton's last outing. The two have combined for a GAA of 1.73.
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For the latest on the Columbia men's soccer program, follow
@ColumbiaMSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, on Facebook at
Facebook.com/ColumbiaMensSoccer and on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
