The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer team rode Nathan Mangione's shutout to a 1-0 East Coast Conference victory over Dowling College at Spartan Field. Michael Corbi's penalty kick provided the lone goal as STAC improved to 4-2-1 overall and 2-1 in conference action, with Dowling falling to 3-3-1, 1-2-1.

Dowling controlled the ball for much of the first half, outshooting the hosts by an 11-2 margin and holding a 6-2 edge on corner kicks. STAC gained momentum as the half went on, however, culminating in a foul in the penalty area which resulted in Corbi's PK goal at 43:09.

Boosted by that momentum, the Spartans turned up the game in an evenly-played second half. While the remainder of the game was scoreless, each team traded big scoring chances in the final minutes, with Mangione making an artistic diving stop before being equalled by his counterpart, Dowling's Chris Friedl, who kept his team's hopes alive.

STAC was forced to weather a late storm when Jack Legg picked up his second yellow card of the day and was sent off with just over 12 minutes remaining. It was the Spartans' first red card of the season.

With seconds remaining on the clock, Mangione dove to his right post to make the last of his eight saves on the afternoon, preserving his third clean sheet of the season. lowering his season goals against average to 0.96.

St. Thomas Aquinas has now won three straight games at Spartan Field, where they will play their next four straight contests. They return to action for another big ECC battle hosting the University of Bridgeport on Wednesday, October 2, with kickoff set for 3:00 pm.