Hooksett, N.H. - Four consecutive fourth quarter goals propelled the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacrosse team to an 11-9 come-from-behind victory over Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday afternoon at Ouellette Stadium.
STAC moves to 1-2 on the season, while SNHU slips to 1-2. The victory is also the first for Jack Spallone as the Spartans' head coach.
Cam Wallace led the STAC's offense with four goals on the afternoon, while Austin Maybee struck for a pair of goals and added an assist for the maroon and gold. Lucas Mullen (1 goal), Christian Rodriguez (1 goal), Lou Takacs (1 goal), Nathan Thomas (1 goal) and John Pena (1 goal) also contributed to the Spartans totals. Hayden Gaudette (W, 1-2) got the start in between the pipes for St. Thomas Aquinas and stopped 20 of 20 shots faced to earn his first victory of the season. Teammate Craig Peavy saw time in the cage for the final two minutes of the contest and made saves on both shots that came his way to preserve the win.
On the other side of the field, Southern New Hampshire was led by Randy Lynch, who tallied two goals and added two helpers, while Sean Dwyer scored two goals and grabbed an assist and Blake Wozniak netted two goals. Joey Gallo (1 goal, 2 assists), Gavin Kostandin (1 goal) and Aiden Blouin (1 goal) added to the totals on the scoreboard for the Penmen. Goalie Patrick Cassidy (L, 1-2) made 6 stops on 17 shots sent his way in a losing effort.
St. Thomas Aquinas opened the scoring with a Cam Wallace goal just four minutes into the contest, before Southern New Hampshire answered with a goal of their own from Aiden Blouin four minutes later. The visiting Spartans then tallied a pair of goals from Cam Wallace, earning himself a first quarter hat trick, to make it 3-1. SNHU's Ryan Lynch cut the deficit to 3-2 on a goal with 90 seconds to play in the stanza.
Cam Wallace racked up his fourth goal of the match to extend the STAC lead to 4-2, but the Penmen would strike back for three consecutive goals via Joey Gallo and Blake Wozniak (2) to take the lead at 5-4, which would remain the score going into halftime.
Southern New Hampshire and St. Thomas Aquinas would trade the first four goals of the third quarter, with Sean Dwyer and Ryan Lynch scoring for the Penmen and Lou Takacs and John Pena putting the ball to the back of the cage for the Spartans to make it 7-6 for the hosts. SNHU would convert on an extra man opportunity courtesy of Gavin Kostandin to extend the lead to 8-6 with 15 minutes left to play.
In the final quarter, STAC would convert on a Lucas Mullen goal to narrow the SNHU lead to just 8-7. Moments later, Sean Dwyer would answer for the Penmen to increase the lead back to two goals at 9-7. However, a scoring frenzy by the Spartans in the final seven minutes of the match would flip the scoreboard and ultimately give the maroon and gold their first victory of the new campaign. Goals by Austin Maybee (2), Christian Rodriguez and Nathan Thomas turned a two goal deficit into a two goal triumph, 11-9.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:
- Southern New Hampshire outshot STAC 51-25 (31-17 on goal) for the match.
- Cam Wallace tallied a team-high six shots, with five going on goal.
- Vinny Rosario gathered eight of the Spartans 31 ground balls.
- Stone McGregor, Ethan Urbanski and Tyler Shertzer each caused a Penmen turnover on the afternoon.
- STAC won 14 of 23 faceoffs, with Vinny Rosario winning 12-of-18 draws.
UP NEXT:
STAC closes out its season-long four-game road trip, visiting Felician University on Wednesday, March 5 with the opening faceoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Tryon Field in Rutherford, New Jersey.