Orangeburg, N.Y. - Despite several fourth quarter rally attempts, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacrosse team failed to come all the way back and dropped a 13-11 road decision to crosstown rivals Dominican University on Wednesday afternoon at O'Brien Field.
STAC falls to 3-10 on the season, while Dominican moves to 4-10.
Austin Maybee led STAC's offense with five goals on the afternoon, while Lucas Mullen struck for two goals and three helpers and Cam Wallace tallied two goals and an assist for the maroon and gold. John Pena (1 goal, 1 assist) and Nathan Thomas (1 goal) also contributed to the Spartans totals on the score sheet. Hayden Gaudette (L, 3-8) got the start in the cage for St. Thomas Aquinas and stopped 16 of 29 shots faced
On the other side of the field, Dominican was led by Nickolas Paletta, who tallied five goals and an assist, while James Conklin scored a hat trick and chipped in a helper and Chad Keyser netted a pair of goals. Michael Chies (1 goal, 1 assist), Zachary Sousa (1 goal) and Nate Melnick (1 goal) added to the totals on the scoreboard for the Saints. Goalie Bryce Layton (W, 2-4) turned aside 15 of 26 shots thrown his way to earn the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Nickolas Paletta tallied his first goal of the day, just 1:58 into the contest, to make it 1-0 Dominican. Lucas Mullen and John Pena answered with a goal apiece for the Spartans to wrestle the lead away at 2-1. However, the Chargers closed the scoring in the opening stanza with a pair of goals via Paletta and teammate Chad Keyser to give the hosts the 3-2 advantage through one quarter of play.
The sides scored three goals apiece in the second quarter, with Nate Melnick and Nickolas Paletta striking first to push the Chargers lead to 5-2. Lucas Mullen's second of the day and Austin Maybee's back-to-back goals then knotted the score at 5-5, but a James Conklin tally would give Dominican back the advantage at 6-5 at the halftime break.
When the teams returned from the intermission, the Spartans and Chargers would once again find the back of the net, as James Conklin (2), Nickolas Paletta and Michael Chies traded goals with Nathan Thomas and Austin Maybee to make it 10-7 in favor of the boys from Orangeburg.
In the final frame, STAC would get an early jump on Dominican, courtesy of goals from Cam Wallace and Austin Maybee to cut the deficit to just 10-9 with almost eleven and a half minutes still to be played. Chad Keyser extended the Charger's lead with his second goal of the day, before Maybee racked up his fifth of the contest to make it 11-10. Unfortunately, Dominican would receive insurance goals from Zachary Sousa and Nickolas Palette to push the advantage to three at 13-10. A late goal by Wallace closed the gap on the scoreboard to 13-11, but time was not on the side of the maroon and gold and the Chargers would walk away with a two-goal victory and bragging rights for 2025.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Dominican outshot STAC 46-43 (29-26 on goal) for the match.
- Austin Maybee tallied a team-high nine shots, with six going on goal.
- Vinny Rosario gathered eight of the Spartans 43 ground balls.
- Lucas Mullen, Nicola Greer and Jaiden Bennett each caused a Chargers turnover on the afternoon.
- STAC won 18 of 28 faceoffs, with Vinny Rosario winning 12 of 17 draws and Austin Palen successful on 6 of 11 draws.
UP NEXT:
STAC closes out its 2025 campaign by visiting our nation's capital, Washington D.C. for a Saturday afternoon (April 26) matchup with the University of the District of Columbia at 2:00 p.m.