SPARKILL, N.Y. — Things were looking good for the Bellarmine University field hockey team in the early going against the homestanding St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans, but the Knights were shut out over the final 63 minutes as they fell 2-1 at Spartan Field early Sunday afternoon.
 
Bellarmine had taken an early lead when Jillian Fazio notched a goal off a feed from Merit Harris in the game's seventh minute. However, the Spartans came back to knot the score at 1-1 with 11:16 remaining in the opening period. 
 
The Knights secured two penalty corners in the final 10 minutes of the first half, but came up empty as the teams went to the intermission deadlocked at one apiece.
 
The Spartans converted on their first look of the second half to take a 2-1 lead when Kaitlyn Gutenberger registered her second goal of the season just 3:40 into the period.
 
The Knights attempted to fight back and outshot the Spartans 10-6 in the second half, but STAC goalie Suzanne Clark came up with four saves to help keep Bellarmine off the scoreboard and register the win.

Bellarmine suffers its fifth straight defeat to see its record dip to 5-6, while the Spartans snap a four-game losing skid to improve to 4-11. 
 
The Knights finished the game with advantages in both shots (14-13) and penalty corners (11-7), but Bellarmine Coach Mark Blankenbaker said mistakes on both ends of the field cost the Knights today. "Our offense is not finishing in the circle," he said, "and the defense does not put a high priority on defending the ball in the circle. We had way too many mental mistakes with the ball over the field."
 
The Knights return to action tomorrow with a 1 p.m. game at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
 
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