BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure freshman Jake Kucinski tied the school record for goals in a game and the Bonnies led for much of the day, but could not hold on late as they fell to Binghamton, 13-12, in an overtime heartbreaker.

Kucinski and grad student teammate Kellen Pulera combined for 10 goals as Pulera scored four times for the second consecutive game.

In the end, though, Matthew Keegan scored an overtime tally for the second year in a row to give the Bearcats a win eerily similar to last year when Binghamton also won in OT at the Marra Athletics Complex.

Last year, Keegan scored with 2:40 remaining in the extra period for the game-winner. This time around, he netted the deciding tally just 22 seconds into overtime.

The Bearcats (1-1) started strong with an early 2-0 lead, but the Bonnies responded as the snow started to fall.

With wintry conditions expanding, the Bonnies went on a 5-0 run. Pulera notched the first two tallies, then the freshman Kucinski caught fire.

Kucinski tallied a natural hat trick by scoring three straight times over a span of less than three minutes – he registered his first two goals off feeds from fellow freshman Patrick Shanahan, then took advantage of a dime dropped from another freshman, Benny Carter down low for a 5-2 lead.

Binghamton scored seven seconds before the end of the first to end the Bonnies dominance.

St. Bonaventure (0-2) took an 8-6 lead into halftime as Kucinski had four goals before the break to tie what was the Bonnies freshman single-game goals record set by Jake Rosa in 2020.

He wasn't done there, scoring his fifth goal for a new Bona's freshman benchmark just 1:08 into the second half. He found the back of the net for a sixth time six minutes later as the Bonnies led by three, 11-8.

Binghamton got back within two on Sonny Imburgia's power play goal with 5:17 left in the third and that 11-9 score would remain until the 11-minute mark of the fourth when Dan Garone scored for the Bearcats. Keegan tied the game up for the first time since the opening quarter's first minutes when he scored for the 11-11 tie with 8:52 to go.

Pulera pushed the Bonnies back in front off a feed from Mark Belles, 12-11, with 3:26 left before the Bearcats evened it up again when Garone scored once more with 2:04 on the clock to ultimately force overtime.

Binghamton had a great look at the end of the regulation, but a shot fired off the crossbar. At the start of overtime, a faceoff violation gave the Bearcats possession, leading to the winning score.

Keegan finished with a team-high four goals for Binghamton and Garone also tallied a hat trick. Connor Winters made 12 saves in net to earn the win. 

GAME NOTES

• Kucinski tallied the first natural hat trick by a Bonnies player since Sean Westley did so at Quinnipiac April 23, 2022. He matched the school record for goals in a game overall, becoming the third Bonaventure player to score six times in a game. Westley did it twice: Feb. 25, 2023 vs. VMI and April 24, 2021 vs. Siena while Jackson Rose also accomplished the feat May 5, 2022 in the MAAC semifinals vs. Siena.
• Kucinski also has the first hat trick for a Bonnies freshman since Jake Rosa had four goals Feb. 9, 2020 vs. Saint Joseph's.
• Pulera is the first Bonnies player to have four goals in each of his first two games with the program.
• Cristofero Cucciuffo had 13 saves for St. Bonaventure and Ryan Olan had a career-high three caused turnovers. Adam Shank also had two caused turnovers for the Bona defense.
• Freshman Grant Giunchi won eight faceoffs and scored his first collegiate goal.
• Shanahan tallied four points in his second career game (1G-3A).
• Kucinski was credited with 11 of Bona's 32 shot attempts with seven on the cage, six of which found the net.
• Clearing issues were a key – the Bonnies finished 12-17 in clear attempts.

 
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