AMHERST, N.Y. - For the second time this season, the Daemen College men's soccer team found themselves on the bitter end of a gut-wrenching 2-1 overtime defeat, falling today to St. Thomas Aquinas College in East Coast Conference action at Park School Field.

Daemen, which had previously dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Ashland University back on September 3, falls to 1-7-0 overall and 0-2-0 in ECC play with the loss today.  It also marked the third straight meeting between Daemen and STAC that has been decided by one goal.  The visiting Spartans made it a 2-0 trip to Western New York, having defeated Roberts Wesleyan College 3-2 in Rochester on Friday afternoon.  The results vault STAC to the top of the league standings at 2-0-0, while moving to 5-1-0 overall.

Sophomore back Brad Neal (Hampshire, England) put the guests on the board first, notching his first marker of the season in the 17th minute.  Neal took a low corner kick pass from his countryman, junior midfielder Charlie Crane (Southamption, England), and neatly flicked the ball across the goaline.

Daemen would come right back as freshman forwars Ali Shawish (Lackawanna, N.Y./Lackawanna) netted the equalizer just four minutes later.  Shawish got in behind the STAC defense after accepting an overhead pass from senior Cole Beale (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg), and beat STAC goalkeeper Jack Nicholson (Totton Southampton, England) with a low shot that went through the net-minder's legs as he came rushing out.  For Shawish, it was his team-leading third tally of the season.

The teams remainder off the scoresheet for the remainder of regulation, forcing the game to overtime.  In the 97th minute, it was STAC's Luis Morales (Port Chester, N.Y.), a sophomore forward, who delivered the "golden goal" for the Spartans.  Junior Eddy de Abreu Soria-Glavarro (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) sent a pass from the midfield to Morales up the left side.  Morales carried shortly into the box and scored by chipping the ball over Daemen goalkeeper Justin Figler (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) who had come off his line to challenge.  It was paydirt for Morales, the team's leading scorer with six goals on the season, as he led the Spartans with five total shots and three shots on goal in the game.

Shawish paced the Daemen offense with three total shots, placing two on frame.  The Wildcats also got a nice spark up front from freshman Chris Ellis (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence).

STAC out-shot Daemen 26-6 in the game.  Figler made five saves for the Wildcats, while his counterpart Nicholson made two.

Daemen returns to action on September 30 when they visit Queens College for an ECC contest.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's soccer team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMSOC on Twitter.