Rochester, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Soccer team battled to a 5-5 draw in a wild seesaw road affair against Roberts Wesleyan College on Saturday afternoon in Western New York.
STAC moves to 2-1-2 and 0-0-1 in the ECC on the season, while the host Redhawks run their record to 2-3-1 and 0-0-1 in conference play.
Roberts Wesleyan raced out to a 3-0 lead, just five minutes into the match. A pair of goals by Tamas Nagy, with a Alex Perez Vega tally sandwiched in between put STAC in an early hole.
However, the resilient Spartans were not going to just fold up shop and get back on the bus to Sparkill. Having put together a three-goal comeback just days earlier at Chestnut Hill, the visitors in maroon and gold were up for the task at hand.
Before the end of the first half, Jalen Moni would get STAC on the scoreboard via a rebound putback goal on a shot by teammate Jorge Umana to make it 3-1 at the break.
In second half action, St. Thomas Aquinas surged for four consecutive goals (five overall), with first Jorge Umana dancing through several Redhawk defenders to score cut the deficit to 3-2. The Spartans tying goal would come in the 81st minute via a free kick from midfield by Dwyant Suazo that was headed to the back of the net by Dan Dougill.
Just over a minute later, the visitors would take their first lead of the day on a Lewis Paterson header that ping ponged around the goal area, following a Jose Tovar corner kick to make it 4-3. STAC took a two-goal advantage in the 87th minute, when off of a Roberts Wesleyan turnover, Ernesto Le Goaziou gained possession of the ball and made his way to the net, firing a laser past keeper Jared Gibbons, making it 5-3.
However, the host Redhawks were not going to go quietly, and just seconds later a series of passes and headers down field resulted in goal by Dylan Ryan, with assists going to both Tamas Nagy and Ollie Ardie to cut the Spartan lead to 5-4.
The game-tying goal came in the final minute of action for Roberts via a penalty kick by Dylan Ruiz. Ruiz was fouled from behind inside of the box by a Spartans defender just moments earlier.
STAC got one final opportunity to regain the lead before time expired, courtesy of a header, but the ball would unfortunately go above the crossbar.
Inside the Box Score
- Dan Dougill, Lewis Paterson, Ernesto Le Goaziou and Jalen Moni each tallied their first goals as members of the STAC Men's Soccer team.
- Jorge Umana picked up his seventh goal on the season in the match. Umana now has 15 points on the year (7 goals, 1 assist).
- Felix Davies (T, 1-0-1) finished the afternoon with four saves on nine shots faced.
- Roberts Wesleyan outshot St. Thomas Aquinas by a 18-16 margin.
Up Next
St. Thomas Aquinas next hosts East Stroudsburg University at Spartan Field on Tuesday, September 13. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m in Sparkill, N.Y.