Lakewood, N.J. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacrosse team was out-scored 9-3 in the second half, falling at Georgian Court University, 15-7, in non-conference action on Wednesday at the GCU Turf Complex.

Junior Braiden Struss led the Spartans' offense with three goals, while freshman Ryan Christensen (2 goals), graduate student Steven Apicella (1 goal, 2 assists) and freshman Jeremy Poggi (1 goal) also contributed to the maroon and gold scoring on the afternoon. Meanwhile, Georgian Court was led by Vincent Giunta who tallied three goals and add two helpers. Michael Ventresca and Joe Zerr also recorded three goals apiece.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Georgian Court tallied five straight goals to open the contest, with Joe Zerr picking up a natural hat-trick and Michael Ventresca netting a pair of goals to lead 5-0 with four and a half minutes to play in the first quarter.
• Steven Apicella finally broke the shutout with a tally on a feed from teammate Jeremy Schucker to make it 5-1.
• Back-to-back goals by Braiden Struss, with the man advantage, got the scoring started in the second quarter and pulled the Spartans to within two, at 5-3 with ten and a half minutes to play before halftime.
• Michael Ventresca then picked up his third goal of the day to increase the margin on the scoreboard to 6-3.
• STAC returned the favor on a Ryan Christensen goal to close out the first half scoring. Georgian Court continued to lead 6-4 at the break.
• When the teams returned to the field, Braiden Struss captured his own hat-trick in the early moments of the new stanza to cut the Spartans deficit to just one, 6-5.
• The Lions would not be held back for long, as Daniel Burnham scored to put the hosts back up by two, 7-5.
• GCU tallied the final goal of the frame in the last two minutes of play with Brett Bridges beating STAC goalie Craig Peavy to make it 8-5 through 45 minutes of action.
• In the fourth quarter, Georgian Court netted seven of nine goals in the stanza. First, Tallen Smith (2) and Doug Mackenzie struck to increase their team's advantage to 11-5.
• STAC fought back with two straight goals, as Jeremy Poggi and Ryan Christensen solved Lions netminder Vincent Burkhart to cut the deficit to four at 11-7.
• Unfortunately, it would not be the end of GCU's offensive barrage. Vincent Giunta earned the third hat-trick of the day, scoring three straight to make it 14-7.
• Brett Bridges tallied the final goal of the match, his second of the afteroon, to close out the scoring at 15-7.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• STAC tallied 36 shots on goal, with Braiden Struss and Michael Huff recording four shots on net apiece.
• James Staeckeler and Daniel Smith scooped up a game-high five ground balls apiece. James Guild earned two of the team's 10 caused turnovers.
• Austin Palen went 17-for-26 on faceoffs for the Spartans.
• Craig Peavy (L, 2-3) got the start between the pipes for STAC and stopped 11 of 26 shots faced.

UP NEXT

St. Thomas Aquinas College (3-4, 0-1 ECC) hosts Roberts Wesleyan University at Spartan Field on Saturday, March 25 (1:00 p.m.).