Trailing 8-5 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the No. 18 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (3-1) dug in on defense and exploded on offense to squeak past Mount St. Mary’s (2-3) Tuesday night, stretching their win streak to three games.

The Hoyas have been on a roll since dropping their season opener to Maryland. In two games that bookended Georgetown’s spring break, the Blue and Gray showcased strong defense to dispatch Detroit Mercy, 12-7, on March 3 and then upset No. 20 Harvard, 11-10, on Saturday.

Junior attack Travis Comeau took over the game early against an overmatched Detroit Mercy squad en route to a six-goal night. He was helped by senior midfielder Zack Angel, who had three fourth-quarter goals that helped key the win for Georgetown.

Angel had another hat trick against the Crimson, and his offensive output was met with stellar performances from junior attack Jason McFadden, who also scored three goals, and Comeau, who had two.

But it wasn’t just the solid offensive rotation that buoyed Georgetown over the last three games.

Redshirt senior goalie Matt Winter started for the first time in his career against Detroit and made 11 saves while only allowing six goals in the game. Winter made an even bigger impact against the Crimson at the end of the week, racking up 12 saves, including two critical deflections in the final minutes of the game to preserve the Blue and Gray’s one-goal advantage.

With the win over the Crimson, the Hoyas — who were unranked when the season began — broke into the national polls and sat at No. 18 when Mount St. Mary’s visited on Tuesday night.

But Georgetown didn’t come out of the gate playing like one of the nation’s top teams. Although four different Hoyas scored in the first half, the Mount prevailed on seven of 10 face-offs and was tied with the Blue and Gray, 4-4, at the intermission.

After the break, the situation only worsened as four different Mount St. Mary’s players scored and Angel’s second goal of the game barely kept Georgetown in contention. The Mount’s offensive explosion was made easier by bad face-off play from the Hoyas, who only earned one of six face-offs in the third period.

“We just needed the ball. Their face-off guy was doing a very good job against us and we went with [sophomore midfielder] Chris May and that was a huge difference in the game,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “Even when we did get [the ball] in the third quarter we managed to throw it away a few times.”

But with May in the game, the Hoyas experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune. Georgetown didn’t allow Mount St. Mary’s to take a single shot on goal and — despite six saves from the Mount’s goalie — the Hoyas connected on four straight goals.

Angel scored his third goal of the game in the fourth quarter, sealing his second straight hat trick, and Comeau also joined in the scoring barrage. But the fact that such a late comeback was needed to beat the Mount does raise some red flags for the Hoyas.

“We knew they were a good team coming in here and for our guys it’s important that they understand it. It’s a mid-week game following a Saturday game and you’ve just got to deal with it,” Urick said. “[It] doesn’t look like we dealt with it all that well but we’ll take it. It’s a one-goal win and I’m not putting quality points behind it. It’s not for the time capsule but we just have to learn from it.”

Still, Angel’s play has to be heartening, especially in light of a forearm issue that has limited him. But despite those limitations, he’s scored nine goals in Georgetown’s last three games.

“[Angel’s] a gamer. He hasn’t practiced that much. … Maybe he’s more frustrated than the rest of the guys,” Urick said with a laugh. “We’ll be shutting him down and he won’t be practicing the rest of the week. I’m not sure what we’ll get out of him this weekend. It was a case of whether we could play him tonight or on Saturday and we decided that tonight was the game we needed to get him out there. And I’m glad we did.”

Georgetown will begin league play on Saturday when they play Providence in the Hoyas’ Big East opener. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Providence, R.I.