The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer netted three goals over a span of less than three minutes to capture a 3-2 win in their East Coast Conference opener at Roberts Wesleyan College. The Spartans have now won four of their first five overall, while RWC fell to 1-5-0, 0-1-0 with the loss.

St. Thomas Aquinas applied some pressure early, though the game remained scoreless for over 30 minutes, until the visitors struck in lightning fashion. At 32:23, Tyler Saraiva sent a corner kick toward net where Luis Morales was on the spot to put STAC on top. Just under a minute later, the pair combined again to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

STAC continued the relentless attack and it paid off again less than two minutes later, when Charlie Crane scored the Spartans' third goal in a span of 2:43, converting his own rebound and beating netminder John Ciaviglia for a 3-0 lead, which carried into halftime.

Roberts Wesleyan used the halftime break to change the momentum, and Sam Moody cut the deficit to 3-1 for the Redhawks quickly, making the score 3-1 at 47:39. Malcolm Shaw brought the hosts to within one goal at 57:49, turning a comfortable lead into a tense final 30 minutes for the Spartans.

Jack Nicholson made four saves in preserving the victory, matching the total of his counterpart Ciaviglia, as the Spartans carried a narrow 13-11 advantage in shots in the defensive contest.

The Spartans are now 2-1 in their string of five straight on the road, which continues with another Western New York ECC tilt at Daemen College on Sunday at 11:00 am. They will then travel to Queens College on Saturday, September 24 before returing to Spartan Field to host the University of the District of Columbia on Wednesday, September 28.