The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's soccer team opened their East Coast Conference slate with a 3-1 setback at Roberts Wesleyan College. The Lady Spartans are now 2-4 overall on the season, while RWC improved to 2-2-1, 1-0.

STAC spent much of the first half in its defensive end but the hosts were unable to solve netminder Courtney Dumain until the 33rd minute, when Bella Mitrevski put one into the top of the net from the top of the penalty area. Despite a 14-1 disadvantage in shots, the Lady Spartans were still just that one goal behind at the halftime break.

Roberts kept the pressure on, adding an insurance goal from Orla Martin six minutes into the second session, and Mitrevski's second of the game at 69:13 padded the lead. STAC battled to the end, however, spoiling the Redhawks' clean sheet with less than three minutes remaining, when Nicole Rivera converted Annalise Warren's free kick to close out the scoring.

Dumain made 13 saves on the evening but took the loss as her team was outshot by a 26-3 gap, with Kelsey Brinkel earning the win for RWC.

The Lady Spartans close out their Western New York ECC swing against Daemen College on Sunday at 1:00 pm before returning to Spartan Field for a non-league tilt against rival Dominican College on Wednesday, September 21.