With meetings against No. 6 Virginia and No. 1 Duke scheduled for the first and third games of the season, the Towson men’s lacrosse team understood the significance of playing well in the second game against St. Joseph’s.

The Tigers earned a much-needed win against the Hawks, but hardly anything came easy in the 8-7 overtime decision Saturday afternoon at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson.

Towson (1-1) squandered a four-goal advantage in the third quarter and endured a scoreless fourth quarter before redshirt freshman midfielder Andrew Milani scored the winning goal with 2:34 left in the extra session. After getting swamped by the Cavaliers, 20-11, on Feb. 6 and with an upcoming date against the Blue Devils on Feb. 20, securing a victory against St. Joseph’s was crucial.

“It was a confidence booster,” Milani said. “We’re obviously a lot more confident now. Virginia was a really good team, and Duke’s going to be a good team. But we’ve got confidence in ourselves. We’re going to go out and play our hardest and hopefully come out with a win.”

Milani, a Catonsville resident and St. Paul’s graduate, provided the heroics for the Tigers. The Hawks opened overtime by winning the faceoff, but senior attackman Matt Tufano threw the ball past a teammate, and it sailed out of bounds, giving possession to Towson. After clearing the ball, the Tigers called a timeout to set up the potential winning play.

After a few dodges and a couple shots by teammates that went awry, Milani carried the ball from the left wing against a short-stick defensive midfielder, turned back to his right, and laced a shot between graduate student goalkeeper Jack Zullo’s legs to set off a full-field celebration.

“I just got under him a little bit and just shot it right under him,” said Milani, who scored twice. “Luckily, it went five-hole.”

St. Joseph’s coach Taylor Wray said he was not surprised by Milani’s move before releasing his shot.

“We had sort of scouted that he liked to roll back and shoot the ball off the defender’s hip, and he did what he was good at, and he made the play,” Wray said. “I don’t think there was anything too out of the ordinary about the play, but he made a terrific shot to seal the victory.”

Towson defensive coordinator Steve Grossi, who filled in while head coach Shawn Nadelen finished a two-game suspension for a self-reported NCAA compliance violation, noted that Milani, fifth-year senior attackman Brody McLean (three goals and one assist), and senior midfielders Casey Wasserman (one goal and one assist) and Andrew Beacham (one goal and one assist) each finished with multiple points.

“Andrew’s been doing a great job,” Grossi said of Milani. “He put himself in a position to make a play. But it’s not just Andrew. If you look at our scoring stat line, the entire offense worked together there. We were able to just put him in a position where he’s comfortable around the goal, and he made a play.”

The emotion from the Towson bench may have been a little over the top, but it was also understandable. The win was the program’s first since May 4, 2019 when that squad outlasted Drexel, 16-14, for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament championship. The win ended a run of eight consecutive losses for the Tigers. It was also the Tigers’ first victory in overtime since May 3, 2018 when that team edged Delaware, 9-8, in a CAA tournament semifinal.

Towson appeared to be in command courtesy of a 4-0 run spanning the second and third quarters. McLean scored two goals within a 39-second span of the third quarter to complete his second hat trick in as many games and lift the Tigers to a 6-2 advantage with 12:26 left in the third quarter.But St. Joseph’s scored three times in 51 seconds in the third quarter to narrow the deficit to 6-5. Junior defenseman Matt Popeck’s tally off a feed from junior midfielder Adam Ritter capped the spurt with 8:40 remaining.

Milani ended an 8:46 drought for Towson when he picked up a loose ball in front of the net and dumped it in with 3:40 left in the period. But the Tigers were blanked on eight shots in the fourth quarter, and the Hawks took advantage.

First, Brennan turned back a shot, but sophomore midfielder Mac McLaughlin snatched the rebound and deposited the ball into an empty net that had been vacated by Brennan with 9:34 remaining. Then with 1:32 left, senior midfielder Austin Strazzulla curled the left post and fired the ball past goalkeeper Shane Brennan to send the game to overtime.

A persistent freezing rain wreaked havoc on both teams, which combined for almost 50 turnovers (28 by St. Joseph’s and 21 by Towson). But Wray, the Hawks coach, was not pleased with nine of 15 failed clears and an offense that failed to get off a shot in overtime.