Fourth Quarter Rally Comes Up Short as Spartans Fall at Assumption, 4-2

Fourth Quarter Rally Comes Up Short as Spartans Fall at Assumption, 4-2

The St. Thomas Aquinas College Field Hockey team dropped a 4-2 road decision to Assumption College on Wednesday afternoon in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Assumption opened the scoring just over a minute and a half into the contest, as Deirdre Burchill was able to put her own rebounded shot into the cage to make it 1-0. The Greyhounds put on the offensive pressure, but STAC goalie Suzanne Clarke kept her team in the game, stopping 7 shots in the first quarter to keep the margin on the scoreboard to just one at the buzzer.

In second quarter action, the Greyhounds continued their attack of the Spartan end of the field and were able to double their lead at 2-0, when Lucy Malia converted on a penalty stroke a little over six minutes into the stanza. Spartan netminder Clarke was able to once again keep things close as she made a bevy of saves to close out the half.

The teams returned to the field for the third quarter and Assumption would again push the tempo, as just a little over three minutes in, Isabel Primack would tally another Greyhounds goal, depositing her own rebound into the back of the STAC net, extending the lead to 3-0, which stood up at the end of three.

In the fourth and final quarter of play, the Greyhounds would strike for a final time, when McKenzie Patterson scored off of a pass from Deidre Burchill to make it 4-0. However, the St. Thomas Aquinas attempted to stage a late game rally, as Briannah Thorne would get STAC on the scoreboard off of a feed from Lisa Larsson, cutting the lead to three at 4-1 with just under five minutes left to play. Unfortunately, time would be the enemy of the Spartans on this day, but in the final moments of the contest, Lauren Cooper would net her second of the season on a pass from Kaitlyn Gutenberger, making it a 4-2 finish at the final horn.

Spartan keeper Suzanne Clarke (L, 2-4) made 26 saves on the afternoon, while goalie Kylie Gargiulo (W, 3-1) stopped 6 shots in the net for Assumption.

The Greyhounds had both a 51-9 shots and 17-9 penalty corners advantage on St. Thomas Aquinas.

STAC (2-4) will return home to take on Saint Michael's College on Saturday, September 28th in a 1pm contest at Spartan Field.