SPARKILL, NY – The D'Youville University men's soccer team fell to ECC opponent St. Thomas Aquinas College 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Sean Burke (Coventry, England) led the charge on offense for the Saints, notching his second goal of the season. Matthew Solorio (Kansas City, Mo.) set a career-high in saves with eight on ten shots faced.
 
Senior Paulo Carvalho (Brazil) and sophomore Ethan Robinson (Toronto, Ontario) saw a couple scoring opportunities early for DYU, but both of their shots missed wide right.
 
Freshman Shawn Richardson (Thailand, Sweden) got the first shot on goal for the Saints in the 20^th minute, but it was smothered by the Spartans goalkeeper.
 
DYU broke through in the 26^th minute, when Burke got one past the STAC goalkeeper to put the Saints ahead 1-0, which is how the score would stay going to halftime.
 
DYU came out firing to begin the second half, as Robinson and Richardson both launched shots, but neither of them could convert.
 
In the 55^th minute, Robinson came painstakingly close to extending the Saints' lead, but his header attempt deflected off the crossbar. Freshman Omar Daoudi (South Burlington, Vt.) got a shot on goal a few seconds later, but it was saved.
 
St. Thomas Aquinas beat Solorio in the 69^th minute to level the game at 1-1. Just four minutes later, the Spartans got past DYU's defense again to go in front 2-1.
 
The Saints got a couple more looks at goal to pull even with STAC, with the final one coming in the 86^th minute as freshman Frederick Balmforth (Oslo, Norway) unleashed one on goal, but it was saved, and the Spartans went on to win 2-1.
 
D'Youville will be back in action on Wednesday at 4:00 when they face Chestnut Hill College on the road.