It’s common to exclaim “home sweet home” when returning from the road, and for the Binghamton University men’s lacrosse team — which won its seventh straight home game on Saturday, 9-7 against Siena College — truer words may never have been spoken.

Following two straight road losses, the Bearcats (2-2) returned home looking to end one streak and continue another. BU hadn’t lost since March 8 of last year, and with the win over Siena, the Bearcats extended the nation’s fourth-best active home winning streak.

But the Saints (1-3) were looking to end a two-game losing streak of their own, and made the game a hard-fought battle for four quarters.

The Bearcats came out of the gates firing, scoring four times on 16 shots in the first quarter while holding the Saints to just five first-quarter shot attempts. The first two goals came within 45 seconds of each other, and just over three minutes into the game.

Binghamton held a 4-0 lead heading into the second quarter after dominating the first quarter on both offense and defense. But for head coach Scott Nelson, the Bearcats’ execution of one particular thing was what really made the difference.

“We were winning the face-offs, which is different than what’s happened to us the first few games,” Nelson said. “We didn’t have to go from defense to offense, we just went right to offense a few times in a row and we’ve got some kids who can shoot the ball.”

One of those “kids,” sophomore midfielder Michael Antinozzi, scored two of his career-high five goals in the first quarter. Antinozzi now has four hat-tricks in as many games, tying a program record for most consecutive hat-tricks, a mark that was set in 2004.

Antinozzi said he credits his teammates for his success so far this season.

“Everyone works together,” Antinozzi said. “I’m sure there are a lot of unassisted goals, but there is a lot of cutting to get the lane open. We’re playing really well this year. I think overall, our offense is the best, probably the best it’s ever been.”

Trailing by four goals after the first quarter, Siena slowly started chipping away at Binghamton’s lead. Following an early second-quarter goal, the Saints scored twice more in the final two and a half minutes, and the Bearcats, who were unable to answer, entered halftime with their lead whittled to one.

“I thought we started taking some bad shots,” Nelson said. “We didn’t get close to the goal, we weren’t moving on offense and it was 4-1 forever and then they got two in the last couple of minutes there and that kind of took the wind out of ourselves a little bit.”

But the Bearcats struck first coming out of halftime, scoring three times in the first four minutes. Two goals came from Antinozzi and one from the stick of junior midfielder Tyler Perrelle.

BU felt like it needed to change its strategy on offense at halftime to match up better with Siena’s defense, and according to coach Nelson, it was the right decision.

“We changed the offense at halftime because of the way they play on defense,” Nelson said. “We sent in a play to start the second half and they hit it perfect. It happened exactly the way we thought it was going to happen … The guys did a great job doing what we asked them.”

The Bearcats held off Siena in the third and fourth quarters to walk away with the victory.

Freshman midfielder J.T. Hauck and freshman goalkeeper Colin Nesdale both had games that impressed coaches and teammates. Hauck finished with one goal and three assists, and Nesdale recorded 13 saves, many of which came from point-blank range and kept Binghamton in the game.

Nelson praised his young goalie for his performance.

“Colin’s got a tremendous amount of ability,” Nelson said. “We think he could be one of the best goalies in the country by the time he’s through here. So we weren’t surprised at all.”

Antinozzi commended Hauck’s play and his ability to live up to expectations.

“He’s coming into his own,” Antinozzi said. “He’s playing really well now. He was hyped up big, and he’s really living up to it.”

Binghamton is set to host Colgate University at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at the Bearcats Sports Complex.