The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's soccer team came up short in its East Coast Conference opener, falling at Dowling College this afternoon. The Lady Spartans have now dropped three straight and stand at 1-3 overall, 0-1 in ECC play while Dowling, the defending ECC champs, are now 5-1, 1-0.

Four different scorers hit the net for the Golden Lions in a game that was closer for much of the afternoon than the final score would indicate. The Lady Spartans held their own in the early going, keeping Dowling off the board until the 37.33 mark when Gabrielle D'Aprile fed Lindsey Thompson to make the score 1-0.

Despite holding a 9-3 edge in shots, Dowling had to settle for that slimmest of leads after the first half. The hosts applied pressure early in the second half and put home an insurance marker at 53:09 when Erika Krumholz sent a long pass that was finished by teammate Kristy Vitale.

Still, St. Thomas Aquinas remained within striking distance until the game's final minutes, when Dowling's Lindsey Thompson and Alexis Perrotta found net within the final six minutes to secure the win. Avaree Rainford made six saves in net for the Lady Spartans, while a pair of Dowling netminders combined for just two saves while earning the shutout, as Dowling enjoyed a 24-5 overall edge in shots.

STAC concludes its season-opening five-game road trip close to home when they visit Dominican College this Wednesday, September 19, in a 3:30 pm start. They will finally enjoy some home cooking at Eugene Levy Field on Saturday, September 22, hosting Molloy College for an ECC twin-bill, starting at 12:30 before the men's teams take the pitch.