The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's soccer team played to a 2-2 tie in an East Coast Conference showdown at Spartan Field. In a battle with playoff implications, STAC now stands at 8-2-4 overall, 1-3-4 in the conference, with NYIT at 9-3-3, 4-1-2.

In a battle of two of the top ranked teams in the East Region, a motivated #9 Spartans squad got on the board early against #10 NYIT. STAC force pressure early, resulting in a penalty kick goal for Luis Morales at the 7:01 mark. Michael Suflita sent a nice touch to Chris Estevez, whose rocket found the top corner at 16:40 to put the hosts up by a pair.

That lead would hold until the 71st minute, when Simone-Peter Omooba's shot caromed off the right post directly to teammate Niyah Highsmith, with the finish cutting the deficit in half. Only 94 seconds later, Omooba stunned the crowd with the tying marker, knotting the score at 2-2.

An intense finish raged against the waning daylight as each team pushed for the decising goal before the game was ended due to darkness with 1:50 left, awarding each team the tie. Had overtime been played, it would have been the sixth time in STAC's last nine games.

The Spartans return to action for their ECC finale, another game with major post-season implications, as they travel to LIU Post on Saturday, October 22, for a 2:30 kickoff. They will then play non-conference tilts at Bloomfield on 10/27 and Rensselaer on 10/29 to wrap up the regular season.