The St. Thomas Aquinas College Field Hockey team defeated the Southern Connecticut State University Owls 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon at Spartan Field in Sparkill, NY.

In the first quarter action, the visiting Owls took a 1-0 lead, just 2:43 into the contest, when Karley Welles took a pass from teammate Jessica Maier and put it past Spartan starting goalie Jessie Hohenstein for her fifth of the season. Southern Connecticut would maintain their slim margin through the final twelve plus minutes of the opening frame.

St. Thomas Aquinas, playing their final home match of the regular season, was able to tie things up at one goal apiece late in the second quarter, as Taylor Hickey would tally her first of the campaign on a rebounded shot from Briannah Thorne that would ring off of the left goal post and right to the stick of Hickey, who would put it home for the score. The scoreboard would remain deadlocked through the remainder of the second stanza and all of the third quarter.

The fourth and final quarter saw both squads attempt to take hold of the match, but the tough Spartan defense would keep the Owls away from the net and out of any major scoring opportunities. On the flip side, the maroon and gold would get several Grade A scoring opportunities and would finally break the stalemate with just under ten minutes remaining in the contest. Off of a penalty corner by Taylor Hickey, Briannah Thorne would fire a shot past Southern Connecticut netminder Brianna Craft to give the Spartans a 2-1 advantage, an lead which would hold up to the final buzzer to give STAC the come-from-behind victory.

Spartan goalies Jessie Hohenstein and Suzanne Clarke (W, 8-8) split time in net for STAC with neither tender picking up a save. Meanwhile, their counterpart in the Owls goal, Brianna Craft (L, 1-13) went the distance and made 11 saves.

STAC held both an 22-3 shots advantage and a 12-3 penalty corners edge for the game.

St. Thomas Aquinas (9-8) will continue their NE-10 playoff push, as they close out the 2019 regular season on the road at Saint Anselm College on Saturday, November 2nd. The contest gets underway at 1pm in Manchester, NH.