Season Recap
The St. Thomas Aquinas men's soccer team finished their best season in recent years with a 2-0 win over NYIT. The Spartans end the year with a record of 9-5-3 finishing in 5th place in the East Coast Conference. The Spartans Remington Lee continued with his hot foot scoring off a free kick by Edgar Barrington at 53:00. Sophomore Renan Lopes followed with a goal of his own just five minutes later. Both Lee and Lopes have scored three goals in the Spartans last three games.
The Spartans relied on solid defense, out scoring their opponents 27-19 for the season and recording six shutouts on the year. They were lead in goal by freshmen Andrew Tartara and Nicholas Croce who tallied 52 and 15 saves respectively in their rookie campaigns. Along with strong play in the net, the Spartans had an experienced combination of defensive backs in Steven Rozycki, Jesse Trajkovski, Chris Hernandez and Edgar Barrigan, who did an outstanding job limiting opponents looks on goal.
The Spartans had a well balanced attack throughout the season as eleven different players scored over the course of the year. Gerald Jones led the offensive attack notching eight goals on the year while Lee (five), Jimmy Earl (four), Lopes (three) and Jon Michael Nabais (two) rounded out the others who scored two or more goals. Guiseppe Chiarelli, Brett Mielcarek, Konstatinos Sapountzis, Hernandez, Barrigan, and Trajkovski each added one goal on the season. Senior captain Andres Gomez, Peter O'Malley and William Miller worked relentlessly in the midfield distributing the ball and covering as much field as possible. Gomez led his team with three assists.
In addition to posting the most wins in a season, two STAC players earned ECC weekly awards. Remington Lee was named Rookie of the Week (9/14, 10/27) twice during the season for his stellar play and strong offensive performances. Tartara was also named ECC Rookie of the Week (9/21) as well as ECC Goalkeeper of the week (9/21) and ECAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/21).
The Spartans will miss the loss of seniors Gomez, Jones and Rozycki but have proven that they will be a team to reckon with in the future.