The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer team needed only a Julius Werner goal and a Nathan Mangione shutout to defeat the University of the District of Columbia, 1-0 in their East Coast Conference opener. The Spartans are now 2-1-1 on the season and 1-0 in ECC play, with UDC suffering its first loss to fall to 4-1-0, 0-1-0.

After playing their first three games of the campaign at home, the Spartans took their act on the road for the first time in the 2013 season and the opening played to rave reviews.

In an evenly-played first half, it was STAC that broke the scoreless tie, with Werner's header beating Firebirds goalkeeper Louis Connor after 20 minutes of play, with Jack Legg picking up the assist.

In the second act the story was the hosts pressing for the equalizer, outshooting STAC by an 11-4 margin and taking eight corner kicks, but Mangione would make five of his seven saves after the intermission to preserve the shutout and the happy ending for St. Thomas Aquinas. It was the second straight shutout for Mangione, who has now kept opponents off the board for 241 straight minutes, improving to 2-1-1 on the season.

STAC will be right back into the East Coast Conference fray, traveling to take on Mercy College on Saturday, September 21, in a 3:00 pm start. They will then play their next six straight and 10 of their final 11 games of the regular season in the friendly confines of Spartan Field.