West Haven, Conn. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Field Hockey team closed out its season-long five-game road trip on Wednesday evening, falling to the University of New Haven, 4-2 at Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium.

STAC slides to 0-7 overall and 0-2 in the NE10, while New Haven improves to 2-4 and 2-1.

Kelli Jacobson tallied a pair of penalty stroke goals for the Chargers, with Femke Boers and Audrey Larson also netting a goal apiece. Nicola Van Vuuren and Adriana Alfisi each scored their team-leading third goals of the season for the Spartans.

In the cage, Madeline Schaefer (L, 0-1) got her first start of the campaign for St. Thomas Aquinas and stopped five of nine shots faced, while on the other end of the field, New Haven's Halle Reiger (W, 1-0) got the start and made eight saves before being replaced by teammate Cara Lambert for the fourth quarter. Lambert made one stop in the final 15 minutes of action.

How it Happened

• 1st Quarter - Nicola Van Vuuren opened the scoring, just 1:42 into the match, as a shot made its way to the feet of Chargers goalie Halle Reiger. In scramble for possession, Van Vuuren would knock the ball loose and into the cage to give STAC a 1-0 lead.
• 2nd Quarter - Off of a STAC turnover and subsequent restart following a foul call, New Haven would make a series of passes, which would eventually find the stick of Femke Boers. Boers would then wind up and rifle a shot toward the net that would catch Spartans goalie Madeline Schaefer's pad and ricochet into the cage to tie the game at 1-1.
• 2nd Quarter - Back-to-back penalty strokes would be awarded to the host Chargers just before halftime, with Kelli Jacobson being asked to take both attempts. On the first try, Jacobson would rip a high shot past Schaefer to make it 2-1. Moments later, the North Branford, Connecticut native would be asked to do it again, and she would, going top shelf on Schaefer to give New Haven a 3-1 advantage.
• 4th Quarter - STAC would pull within a goal, converting on a penalty corner, as Adriana Alfisi would drive a shot into the cage past Cara Lambert to make it a 3-2 game.
• 4th Quarter - Audrey Larson would tally an insurance marker for New Haven in the final 90 seconds of the match, as a STAC turnover would result in Abby Nixon floating a soft pass to the stick of Larson, who would tip-in a shot at the right post, beating Schaefer to double the Chargers lead at 4-2.

Inside the Box Score

• New Haven outshot St. Thomas Aquinas 27-18 in the match.
• The host Chargers also earned a 12-4 penalty corners advantage over the Spartans.
• Shots from Nicola Van Vuuren (7), Erin Bacalles (4), Sofia Corominas Cuen (3), Adriana Alfisi (2) and Madelyn Verstraten (2) accounted for the 18 total shots registered by the maroon and gold.

Up Next

St. Thomas Aquinas College finally returns to Spartan Field, hosting American International College on Saturday, September 23 at 12:00 p.m.