Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Lacrosse team opened the home-portion of their 2024 schedule on Saturday morning, hosting Georgian Court University at Spartan Field. 

Despite getting multi-goal games from John Pena, Joseph Casarella and Ryan Christensen, the visiting Lions slipped past the Spartans, 16-11.

STAC slips to 1-3 on the season, while GCU improves to 2-1 on the year.

John Pena led the Spartans' offense with three goals, while Joseph Casarella and Ryan Christensen tallied two goals and two helpers apiece. Michael Huff (1 goal, 2 assists), Jonathan Farley (1 goal, 1 assist), Kyle Bross (1 goal) and Jeremy Poggi (1 goal) also added to the totals on the scoresheet. 

Meanwhile, Georgian Court was led by Tallen Smith, who tallied six goals and an assist, while Brett Bridges added three goals and three helpers and Matt Dorian scored three goals. Harrison Jordan (1 goal, 1 assist), Doug Mackenzie (1 goal, 1 assist), Millan Webster (1 goal) and James Sanford (1 goal) also contributed to the Lions' victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Georgian Court outshot STAC 52-43 (29-25 on goal) for the game.
• Joseph Casarella tallied a game-high 12 shots (five on goal) for the Spartans.
• Casarella and Austin Palen gathered five of the Spartans 29 ground balls in the match.
• John Morris caused two Lions turnovers on the afternoon.
• Austin Palen won 10-of-28 faceoffs for the maroon and gold.
• GCU led STAC 10-7 at the half and were able to outscore the Spartans by a 6-4 margin over the third and fourth quarters.
• Goalie Craig Peavy (L, 1-3) stopped 13 of 29 shots faced over 60 minutes of action for STAC, while Vincent Burkhart (W, 2-1) went the distance for Georgian Court and made 14 saves.

UP NEXT:

St. Thomas Aquinas hosts the University of Bridgeport on Wednesday, February 28 at Spartan Field. The Spartans and Purple Knights will get underway at 3:00 p.m. in Sparkill, New York.