The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's soccer team cut an early deficit to just one goal before falling to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference contest at Spartan Field. It was the home opener for the Lady Spartans, who fell to 0-3-0, 0-1-0 on the season, while Bridgeport improved to 3-1-0, 1-0-0.

After dropping their first two games of the campaign on the road, STAC's women's squad enjoyed a week off before breaking the seal on their new pitch, playing the first of 11 home games at Spartan Field.

With the defending ECC finalists paying a visit, the chore promised to be a challenging one and the Purple Knights tallied three goals in a span of just over seven minutes to take a convincing lead after less than 20 minutes of play.

Though the game was seemingly well in hand for the visitors, St. Thomas Aquinas only needed a spark and it was provided by Nisha Flinn, who took a feed from Calli Moise and deftly dribbled around Purple Knights netminder Julia Hansson and hit the empty net with just 25 seconds remaining in the half.

It was the first goal of the season for the Lady Spartans and would provide some momentum after the break, culminating in another STAC goal 16 minutes into the second stanza. This time, Flinn would pick up the assist as Arieta Lekaj turned and fired from inside the box, finding the inside of the far post to cut the deficit to 3-2.

STAC continued to apply pressure to the reeling Bridgeport squad, but the Purple Knights regained their footing and reestablished control over the final 15 minutes of play. Flo Gamby's second of the game in the 78th minute was the backbreaker, and she completed the hat trick six minutes later to provide the final score of the afternoon.

Gabby Reis added three assists for UB, while STAC continued it rotation of splitting the goalkeeping duties between Avaree Rainford and Lauren Morales. Rainford got the start, giving up three goals and making three saves while being tagged with the loss. Morales gave up the final two, while turning aside six opposition efforts.

The Lady Spartans return to action this Wednesday, September 18, when they host Bloomfield College in a non-conference 3:00 pm start at Spartan Field.