The St. Thomas Aquinas Men's Lacrosse team dropped their home opener to Caldwell University, 15-9 on Saturday at Spartan Field. Tyler Senatore scored three goals, Peter Johnson picked up two goals and James Staeckeler, Timothy Zimnoch, Aedan Kearns and Thomas Chiapperino tallied a goal apiece.

Caldwell and STAC traded goals in the opening minutes of the contest as Kevin Albright and Peter Johnson made it 1-1. Tyler Senator's shorthanded goal put the Spartans up 2-1 with just under eleven minutes remaining in the opening frame. However, Caldwell would score the next four, as Owen Healy, Jason Staudte, Albright and Michael Brown all lit the lamp to make it a 5-2 game. Tim Zimnoch would get one back for the maroon and gold before the quarter ended, making it 5-3 Cougars after one.  

The second stanza would see very few goals, just three to be exact, as Tom Chiapperino would close the gap to one at 5-4. Unfortunately, Caldwell would strike twice on the strength of another Kevin Albright goal, followed by another Owen Healy goal to push the Cougar lead to 7-4 at the half.

After the break, Caldwell would extend their lead to five, as Michael Brown's second of the game, followed by Chris Snow's goal would make it 9-4 in favor of the visitors. STAC would strike back for the next three, when Tyler Senatore would pick up his second hat trick of the season with James Staeckeler finding the back of the net in between the Senatore goals to close the gap to 9-7. Gage Herzog would add another Cougar's goal in the final minute of the quarter to close out the third period at 10-7 

In the final quarter of play, Caldwell would tally five more goals, as Michael Brown, Kevin Albright and Owen Healy (3) would all score, while Peter Johnson recorded his second goal of the game and Aedan Kearns would round out the Spartan scoring to give the visitors from Caldwell a 15-9 victory.

Ryan Guild (0-2) recorded 9 saves, but took the loss in goal for STAC. Craig Peavy would relieve Guild in the fourth quarter and play the final three minutes.

Caldwell would hold a 47-40 shots advantage over the Spartans for the game.

STAC will travel to American International College for a non-conference contest on Tuesday, March 16, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 3:30pm