The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer team rallied to defeat the University of the District of Columbia by a 3-2 score in an East Coast Conference tilt at Spartan Field. Brian Kinsella's first collegiate goal made the difference as the Spartans hit the .500 mark overall at 5-5-2 and improved to 2-5-0 in ECC play, with UDC dropping to 7-5-2, 3-3-0.

An overcast day got off to an even less promising start for the Spartans, who found themselves in a two goal hole less than nine minutes into the contest. UDC's Atunde Akum broke the seal at the 4:20 mark and Felix Angerer added another at 8:58 - both on assists from Nenad Smiljanec - to put the visitors in an early 2-0 lead.

Not only was the rout not on, but St. Thomas Aquinas showed its fighting spirit, stepping its play up a level until Julius Werner played a pretty through ball from Ivan Gomez and found twine at 23:21 to cut the deficit in half.

Less than four minutes later it was Werner dishing the assist, as he found Michael Corbi who converted in close, capping a wild 2-2 start after just 27:06 of play.

As unlikely as it seemed at that point, that would be the remainder of the scoring in regulation, though the Spartans were dealt a serious blow when Yohan Loyer picked up his second yellow card of the game at 73:10, disqualifying him for the remainder of the contest and putting his team a man down.

Both teams traded chances in the remainder of regulation but neither was able to record a tiebreaking goal, and regulation ended with the hosts enjoying a 13-11 shots edge to that point.

After a scoreless 10 minutes of overtime, the teams switched ends for the final session. With rain and darkness both beginning to fall, an unlikely hero emerged. Kinsella uncorked a shot from just outside the box that found its way past Firebird goalkeeper Louis Connor and into the top corner of the net, sending the home squad into a victory celebration.

Nicholas Palumbo shook off a tough start to earn the win for STAC, making five saves in net, while Connor was credited with four. STAC outshot UDC overall, 14-13 on the day.

The Spartans return to home turf this Saturday, October 18, hosting Mercy College in an ECC contest. Kickoff time is set for 3:00 PM, following the conclusion of the women's contest between the same schools.