Despite a dominant first half effort that saw them outshoot Maine 12-3, the Binghamton men’s soccer team entered the second half of Saturday’s game scoreless.

Then, at the 70:19 mark, senior midfielder Bryan Arnault struck a cross from junior forward Matt Narode into the goal from 18 yards out to put the Bearcats on the board. They never looked back.

The Bearcats (3-5-3, 1-0-0 AE) started off America East competition on the right foot by besting Maine (0-9-0, 0-1-0 AE), a winless team that continues to struggle, by a final of 2-1. After one conference game Binghamton finds itself in third place in the conference, behind the other two teams that won their AE matchups this weekend: Vermont (4-4-2, 1-0-0 AE) and Albany (3-4-2, 1-0-0 AE).

Adam Chavez extended Binghamton’s lead with a little over 12 minutes to play, beating the Black Bears’ junior goalkeeper Giacomo Brunino in the near post, a goal that would prove huge by the end of the game.

“We got two unbelievable goals, probably the two best strikes of the season,” said head coach Paul Marco.

Bearcat freshman goalie Jason Stenta had two saves, giving him 23 on the season, and would have posted his third shutout of the season were it not for Maine senior midfielder Cody Friend netting a goal with 18 seconds to play. Binghamton outshot the Black Bears 21-6.

Arnault and Chavez remain tied for the team lead in goals, along with Cody Germain at two, though Germain is now out for the season with an injury to his MCL.

The Bearcats have strung together three strong weeks, going 3-2-2 since Sept. 3. The season’s rough start seems to be in the team’s rearview window and Binghamton is playing a fun brand of soccer.

“A few years ago, even when we won the conference, we weren’t very enjoyable to watch,” Marco said. “We just out-competed you, and now we’re fun to watch.”

BU’s play was not perfect on Saturday, as Maine had a chance to win Saturday’s game entering the second half of a tie game, an opportunity that Binghamton gave the Black Bears by not capitalizing on its opportunities.

“The disappointing thing is we’re not scoring the goals we’re creating,” Marco said.

Regardless, the Bearcats did what they had to do on Saturday to bring home the victory, and the team has been on an upswing all of September — perfect timing as America East play heats up.

“We were very good from box to box, we’re moving the ball extremely well right now, our attack, you know, it’s enjoyable to watch the team play,” Marco said.