Surging off a three-game win streak, the Binghamton men’s lacrosse team took on St. Bonaventure on Tuesday afternoon, securing a 6-5 victory in overtime. After holding on to the lead for three periods of play, St. Bonaventure’s four-score fourth period sent the matchup into overtime for BU’s third consecutive game against the Bonnies. Just like their two previous matchups, BU won in overtime off a golden goal.

“I think there was definitely some areas that we were trying to work on after not winning the first couple games,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “I think clearing was one of them, the faceoff was one of them, and I think both of those things have improved the last few games, so those two things help get us possession and prevent the other team from scoring. I think those would probably be the two biggest focuses that we were trying to work on, and I think that, definitely, that did help today.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Binghamton (4-4, 2-0 AE) and St. Bonaventure (5-6, 0-0 Atlantic 10) battled it out in the second to see who could get on the board first. After a few unsuccessful shots, the Bearcats found the back of the net at the 10:15 mark, courtesy of senior midfielder Nick Cartmill. Less than a minute after, the Bearcats struck again with a goal from junior midfielder Colin Delay.

The next few minutes of play saw possession go back and forth as the teams fought for the next goal. With only 1:33 left in the second quarter, junior midfielder Gavin Jacobsen punched one more in to give Binghamton a 3-0 lead.

“I think in the second quarter, we did better offensively just finishing the plays,” McKeown said. “I thought we were a little more purposeful with our shooting. Second half, I didn’t think we did great with that, we ended up with, I think, 50 shots and only scored six, so definitely would like to can more of those, but defensively, I think we did really well.”

In the third quarter, the Bearcats looked to advance their lead, but the Bonnies found twine first to get on the board. This was the only goal allowed on the period by senior goalie Connor Winters, whose six saves saved BU’s lead. Binghamton responded when junior midfielder Tyler Martini found the back of the net, giving Binghamton a 4-1 lead going into the final quarter.

“I think the way we played defensively was great,” McKeown said. “I think Connor Winters in net coming up with maybe his biggest game of the year — we’re gonna need him to play big to win the conference games especially, that we’re looking at ahead of us. I think he’s a guy that we are counting on to move this team and expect big things out of.”

The fourth quarter saw a major momentum shift, as St. Bonaventure successfully came back with a four-goal run to take a 5-4 lead. This put the Bearcats on the back foot for the first time all game, but graduate student attack/midfield Liam Ferris came through in the clutch to tie the game 5-5 to go to overtime. In the extra period, Binghamton battled to take home the win, and with nine seconds remaining, a goal from Jacobsen secured BU’s fourth consecutive victory.

“We had two penalties there and they scored one man up and then I think they scored another one,” McKeown said. “I don’t know if they were still man up at the time, but it was another opportunity for them to go man up back to back. I think that was something that gave them a little bit of a spark. They scored the first one and then were able to kind of get the third goal just off of their man up.”

Binghamton will look to keep the ball rolling against No. 12 Harvard for its next match on Saturday, March 29. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Jordan Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts.