Looking for its first win of the season, the Binghamton women’s lacrosse team faced off against St. Bonaventure University on Wednesday in a rainy day matchup, ultimately coming away with a 9-7 victory over the Bonnies. After going down 7-3 late in the first half, the Bearcats scored six straight goals to come back against their visiting opponents.

“Just really proud of this group for being resilient and battling for an entire 60 minutes,” said Binghamton head coach Stephanie Allen. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks where we’ve been in some close and competitive games. It was nice to see our team kind of trust the process and battle through the journey here today, coming up with a good W for us.”

After winning the opening draw-control, Binghamton (1-2) was quick to get on the scoreboard thanks to a setup from junior midfielder Mia Forte, allowing sophomore midfielder Anthea Hayslip to put the Bearcats up 1-0. However, St. Bonaventure (1-2) quickly made it 1-1 thanks to a man-up situation.

St. Bonaventure added to their lead, making it 2-1 headed into a media timeout, but Binghamton struck back with a free-position goal from senior attack Emma Blloshmi. The Bonnies tacked on two more goals before the first quarter came to a close, giving them a 4-2 lead headed into the second.

“[Blloshmi] knows that she can put the ball in the back of the net, but knowing too that when maybe she has a tough matchup, that she can distribute the ball and trust her teammates to do just the same,” Allen said.

Following a back-and-forth first few minutes of the quarter, the Bonnies gained a man-up advantage and quickly added to their lead, then tacked on yet another goal to go up 6-2 headed into a media timeout. Binghamton finally responded thanks to another free-position goal from Blloshmi, cutting their deficit to three with under five minutes remaining in the half.

The score wouldn’t last long, however, as the Bonnies soon responded with their third goal of the quarter to go up 7-3. Binghamton, with under a minute remaining and desperately looking for a score for some momentum, found twine courtesy of Blloshmi, notching her third goal of the game and keeping the Bearcats within three as the first half came to a close.

“We made a couple adjustments on the defensive end that worked in our favor, holding them scoreless for a good portion there, which was kind of our ultimate game plan,” Allen said. “We were able to capitalize on that on the offensive end, I think, cleaning up our transition game a little bit more today and making sure that we were more composed in getting the ball to our offensive unit.”

Blloshmi kept that momentum going into the third quarter, scoring her fourth goal of the game and bringing the Bearcats within two. Despite gaining multiple man-up advantages as the quarter marched on, Binghamton was unable to capitalize, taking six shots over the next several minutes with the Bonnie goalkeeper saving three of them.

The Bearcats continued to apply pressure, finally finding twine as a free-position shot from sophomore midfielder Christina Lauro brought the Bearcats within one. Binghamton continued its scoring run, as senior attack Carla Curth tied the match at 7-7 with under a minute left in the third, leading to a game-deciding fourth quarter.

“We talk all the time about sharing the ball out there on the offensive end and we’ve got multiple threats out there,” Allen said. “As you saw, some other people stepped up today. Just proud of [Blloshmi] being tough under some really solid defensive performance by St. Bonaventure.”

Blloshmi came close to her fifth goal of the day when a shot of hers rattled off the post, but Forte scored the first goal of the fourth quarter and gave Binghamton its first lead of the game since the opening minutes. After a big save from sophomore goalie Emily Backlin, Forte stacked onto the Bearcats’ lead, scoring the team’s sixth-straight goal and extending their lead to two with just a few minutes of play remaining.

Binghamton then successfully drained the clock, coming away with a 9-7 victory.

“We want to have a taste of this one and look for more of that throughout the season,” Allen said. “But we’ve got to turn things around quick and get in the mindset of facing Colgate. So we’ll be back out on the practice field tomorrow, ready to face an even tougher opponent.”

Binghamton will hit the road for its first away game of the season, facing Colgate University on Saturday, Feb. 21. Draw-control is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Crown Field in Hamilton, New York.