Shippensburg, Pa. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Soccer team saw its second half comeback fall short as Shippensburg University came away with a 2-1 victory on Monday afternoon at David See Field. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the Spartans were able to limit the Raiders through the final 45 minutes and halved their deficit with a goal by Sarai Rodriguez in the 50th minute.

How it Happened

• The teams were largely quiet first 20 plus minutes of play, with the visiting Spartans registered the match's only two shots.
• Shippensburg tallied the first goal of the match in the 21st minute. A turnover at midfield by STAC, allowed Meagan Quinn to dribble the ball through several defenders and fire a high-rising shot over the head of keeper Colleen Stevens, to the back of the net, to make it 1-0.
• In the 36th minute, the Raiders struck for their second goal off of a series of passes following a free kick. Sammy Lerario found teammate Alexis Worley on a partial breakaway. Worley fired a weak low shot that got past Stevens and went into the cage to increase the Shippensburg lead to 2-0.
• Shippensburg to the two-goal advantage into the halftime break and also led in shots 5-4 through 45 minutes of action. STAC held the slight edge in corner kicks at 2-1.
• After the intermission, St. Thomas Aquinas came out with a sense of urgency to score an early goal and they did just that. In the 50th minute, the Spartans were awarded a penalty kick after Ileana Santiago was taken down inside of the penalty area, following a steal by the Yonkers, NY native. Teammate Sarai Rodriguez was asked to take the PK attempt and proceeded to convert with a boot to the left post, beating Raiders keeper Abbie Aughe to cut the deficit to 2-1.
• Despite the early second half goal and three additional shots over the remaining 40 minutes, STAC was unable to muster any further offense. Meanwhile, Shippensburg would also fail to expand its lead, although they took eight more shots and earned three corner kicks.

Inside the Box Score

• Shippensburg outshot STAC by a margin of 13-8 and held a slight 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
• Sarai Rodriguez's penalty kick tally was her team-leading fourth goal of the season.
• Colleen Stevens (L, 2-5-2) earned the start between the sticks and finished her day with two stops on four shots faced.

Up Next

St. Thomas Aquinas College (3-10-2, 2-4 ECC) returns to Spartan Field for a conference tilt with Queens College on Saturday, October 22. Kick-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m in Sparkill.