The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer team scored a pair of early goals and emerged with a 2-1 victory over Mercy College in an East Coast Conference contest at Spartan Field. STAC now stands at 6-5-2 overall, 3-5 in the ECC, with Mercy falling to 3-11, 2-5.

Both teams traded scoring opportunities in a wide-open first few minutes, but it was the Spartans who would strike twice in lightning-like fashion.

Joseph Cutajar sent a pass to STAC sniper Michael Corbi, who ripped a shot home for his ninth goal of the season to give the hosts the lead after 8:33 of play. Less than a minute later, the Spartans doubled their lead when Alejandro Coyt-Orozco sent a long cross to Corbi, who was stationed at the left post.

This time, Corbi would distribute a nifty backheel pass to Patryk Seweryn, who beat a helpless Luis Lizarzaburu at 9:25, and the Spartans were quickly up 2-0. Opportunities continued to abound for both sides but the score remained the same after 45 minutes, with the home squad enjoying a narrow 9-8 lead in shots.

Mercy controlled much of the possession in the second half but could not break through on Spartan netminder Nicholas Palumbo, who retained his shutout until being issued a red card for a netmouth skirmish along with Mercy's Tafari Newman at 65:37.

Finally the visitors would break through at the 75:27 mark when Sani Mubarak's shot from the top of the box changed direction off a STAC defender and passed a helpless Aidan Tansey in the Spartan net to cut the margin to 2-1.

While the Mavericks continued to apply the pressure in the final minutes, they were unable to seriously threaten again, as the Spartans held on for their third straight win, all in conference play. Mercy ended the contest with a 15-14 advantage in shots.

The Spartans return to action for a non-conference meeting with Holy Family University on Tuesday, October 21 in a 3:00 pm start. They will then host Molloy College in an ECC match-up on Saturday, October 25, at 12:00 noon. That will also be Senior Day, with pregame ceremonies honoring this year's senior class.