Springfield, Mass. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Field Hockey team tallied two first half goals and then held on for their third straight victory, 2-1 over American International College on Friday afternoon at Abdow Field.

STAC improves to 6-6 overall and 4-3 within the Northeast-10 Conference, while AIC falls to 2-11 and 1-7.

How it Happened

• A largely quiet first quarter, saw the host Yellow Jackets register the first three shots, with the Spartans recording one through the first 14:40 of action.
• STAC would score the opening goal of the match with 20 seconds remaining in the stanza, as a two on none breakaway would develop, with Kelly Johnson sending a pass to the left post for teammate Nicola Van Vuuren who sent a backhand shot past AIC keeper Taylor Wildes, to the back of the cage, to make it 1-0.
• The second Spartan goal came via a penalty corner with time having already expired in the second quarter. Off of the insert by Jasmijn Van Drunen, Floortje Beune would fire a shot to the net, which was tipped in at the left post by Van Drunen for a 2-0 advantage at halftime.
• Following the break, the third quarter was scoreless, with St. Thomas Aquinas holding a 4-2 shots advantage in the frame.
• American International broke the shutout in the final four minutes of play in the fourth quarter, as Shannon Cornier would connect with Nicole Mercadante on a pass, which Mercadante would send home on a diving shot to cut the deficit to 2-1.
• AIC tried to even up the score in the closing moments, but were only able to generate one additional shot, which was stopped by Spartan keeper Jessie Hohenstein to preserve the one-goal victory.

STAC Highlights and Game Notes

• Nicola Van Vuuren's goal in the match is her team-leading seventh on the season for the Spartans.
• Jasmijn Van Drunen tallied her fifth goal of the season on Friday afternoon.
• Jessie Hohenstein (W, 5-4) turned away three of four shots faced.
• St. Thomas Aquinas outshot American International 15-8, while each team earned 6 penalty corners.
• STAC's 15 total shots in the contest came via Van Vuuren (4), Olivia Cerbo (4), Van Drunen (2), Kelly Johnson (2), Adriana Alfisi (1), Brittany Lionarons (1) and Erin Bacalles (1).

Up Next

St. Thomas Aquinas College hosts the University of New Haven on Tuesday, October 25 (2:30 p.m.) at Spartan Field.