Springfield, Mass. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacross team opened its 2022 season on the road, falling to American International College, 7-4 on Saturday afternoon at Abdow Field.

Braiden Struss tallied two goals for the Spartans on the day, while Carlos Aguilar and Jack Margetson also deposited balls to the back of the Yellow Jackets cage. Giorgio D'Angelo got the start between the pipes and stopped 17-of-24 shots faced in the match.

STAC NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS

• Struss topped the Spartan offense with two points on two goals.
• James Staeckeler picked up a team-high eight ground balls on the afternoon, while teammate Bo Maroney caused two Yellow Jackets turnovers.
• Joseph Longobardo and Stephen Stolarski combined to go 3-for-15 from the face-off dot.
• AIC registered 52 shots (24 on goal) to STAC's 17 (11 on goal) for the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• American International opened the scoring with a Rusty Stone tally 6:10 into the first quarter, making it 1-0.
• A late first quarter goal by Carlos Aguilar tied the game at 1-1 and that is where the scoreboard remained through the first 15 minutes of action.
• AIC would retake the lead (2-1) on Hunter Terlik strike, with Nick Mackay picking up the helper mid-second quarter.
• Another late goal by the Spartans, this time before the halftime break, by Braiden Struss knotted the game at two goals apiece. Jason Beddows would be credited with the assist on Struss' first goal of the afternoon.
• The teams would head to their respective locker rooms with the score tied 2-2.
• Following the break, STAC would take its first lead of the day, six minutes into the third quarter, on a Jack Margetson unassisted goal to make it 3-2.
• American International would tie the match on a Jason Vickery tally, retake the lead via Rusty Stone's second of the day and expanded its advantage by two on a Devon Walker goal, all in the span of 2:54 to make it a 5-3 AIC game.
• St. Thomas Aquinas would once again get a goal in the closing moments of a stanza, as Braiden Struss deposited his second of the game to the back of the cage on the man-up advantage to close the deficit to one at 5-4.
• However, AIC would prevent the Spartans from getting the ever-elusive tying goal in the fourth quarter, but would score two of their own, as Rusty Stone picked up the hat-trick goal and Hunter Terlik would get his second on the afternoon to close out the scoring and take the season opener, 7-4.

NEXT GAME

St. Thomas Aquinas (0-1) battles Felician University on Wednesday, March 2. Game time and location of the road contest are still to be determined.