VESTAL, N.Y. -- The Binghamton University men's lacrosse team (3-2, 3-2 AE) beat NJIT (1-6, 1-4 AE) 11-9 Saturday at the Bearcats Sports Complex in Vestal. The Bearcats and Highlanders faced off twice this season with BU coming out on top in both contests.

"Matt DeSouza played absolutely outstanding today," head coach Kevin McKeown said. "He's improved every single game and he's done a great job in practice of pushing himself to get better. I don't know if we played our best all-around game today but even when we went down a few times our guys always bounced back. I'm proud of them but especially DeSouza who I really think was the key to our victory today."

To kick off the game, sophomore midfielder Thomas Greenblatt recorded his ninth goal of the season. Junior Kevin Winkoff tallied his first goal of the game two minutes later to give BU the 2-0 lead. The Highlanders quickly retaliated with two of their own to close out the first period even at two. 

In the second period, midfielder Quinn O'Hara finished off of a pass from Greenblatt early on while drawing a penalty. 30 seconds later, Winkoff notched a goal during a man up play to give the Bearcats the 4-2 advantage. Over the course of the remaining second period, NJIT went on to score three goals and Binghamton added another from William Talbott-Shere. There were six total goals, three by each team forcing a 5-5 tie heading into the break.

The Highlanders opened the second half with back-to-back goals to take their first lead of the game. The Bearcats answered as Ryan McBeth tallied consecutive goals to even the score at seven. Binghamton and NJIT each added one more to the scoreboard, closing out the third period tied at eight. 

Justin Roderka scored the game-winning goal for Binghamton in the fourth quarter off a feed from McBeth. With 35 seconds remaining in regulation and a one goal lead, McBeth placed the ball in the bottom left corner to seal the deal for the Bearcats, taking the 11-9 victory over the Highlanders.

In a game that featured five ties and four lead changes, Binghamton held strong given the phenomenal performance from Matthew DeSouza at the face-off X winning 21 of the 23 attempts.

The Bearcats are back in action next Saturday, April 10 to take on University of Hartford at 11 a.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.