West Haven, C.T- After a tough loss at Franklin Pierce, the Chargers looked to regroup as they stepped on their home field to take on the Spartans of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Senior Kelli Jacobson (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) would lead the Chargers to victory, with two goals coming from strokes.

 The Chargers took the field coming out a little slow, putting them on the offensive quickly within the first quarter. Saint Thomas Aquinas would take advantage of the slow start, finding the first goal of the game 1:42 into the first quarter. The Spartan's first goal would come from a foul called outside of the circle, the pass in bouncing around players from both teams before it would find the pads of Hallie Reiger (Oklahoma City, Okla./Casady School). Reiger trying to clear the ball away would have Spartan forwards collapsing on the goal line, eventually sending it over the line to open scoring.

The slow start of the blue and gold offense would continue throughout the first quarter, New Haven only finding a total of two shots over the fifteen-minute period. After the two-minute break between periods, the Chargers looked to have found their placement, pushing the offense, and challenging the Spartan's backline. Using the middle of the field, the Chargers would push their way into the circle, leading to their first goal of the night.

With the offensive movement, Femke Boers (The Hague, Netherlands/Brasschaat, Belgium) would push higher to defend any clears from the opposing defense outside of the circle. With a block tackle Boers would regain possession, taking a quick one-touch and shoot, finding the corner of the goal for the Chargers first goal of the night.

With the blue and gold's newfound energy, give and goes in the middle from Sophia Ruh (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) and Johannah Lee (State College, Pa./State College Area) would lead the Chargers into the circle. With Audrey Larson (Gilroy, Calif./Gilroy) putting pressure on the St. Thomas Aquinas goalkeeper a pass in would need to be saved by a defender who was behind the goal line, resulting in a rare stroke for New Haven. Kelli Jacobson (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) the selected player to take the stroke, would place the ball on the line, and find a strong flick to the upper left-hand corner, out of reach for the Spartans goalkeeper.

Though a rare occasion to see a stroke, New Haven would find yet another opportunity for a stroke, nearly seconds after Jacobson found be given the opportunity to find her second stroke goal of the night. Jacobson taking her stance with the ball on the line, would go top shelf again out of reach of the goalkeeper to push the Chargers lead to two.

The third quarter would remain back and forth between the two teams, with lots of offensive opportunities but no conversions between either team. Entering the last quarter of the game, the Chargers would make a goalie switch to Cara Lambert (Sutton, Mass./Sutton Memorial) for her second appearance for the blue and gold.

With New Haven leading, Saint Thomas Aquinas looked to find a goal that would put them back in the running for the win. Strong defense from the Chargers would deny them for the first minutes of the fourth quarter, but a persistent Spartan offense would find another goal in the 49^th minute. That goal from Adrianna Alfisi would come from a penalty corner, inserted to the Alfisi as the short option, with a sweeping shot beating Lambert to the back post.

With a one goal game, defense was a prominent aspect for both teams. The Chargers would continue pushing the offensive, up until the 58^th minute where they would net yet another, bringing back their two-goal lead. A reset for the Spartans at the sixteen would give the ball back to Katherine Trammel on a failed aerial attempt, passing it up to Abby Nixon (Wrentham, Mass./King Phillip Regional), who would find Audrey Larson (Gilroy, Calif./Gilroy) to her right for the last goal of the night.

New Haven would end the night with 27 shots and 12 penalty corners. The starting goalkeeper for New Haven Hallie Reiger (Oklahoma City, Okla./Casady School) would tally up eight saves, while Cara Lambert (Sutton, Mass./Sutton Memorial) would come in and collect one save. The offense was lead by Kelli Jacobson (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) who found 9 shots, two of those landing on goal, as well as senior Kat Trammel (Sandy Hook, Conn./Newtown) finding four shots, three on goal.

With that win the Chargers now advance to 2-0 on their home turf, 2-1 in Northeast-10 Conference play, and an overall record of 2-4. The conference play will continue for New Haven has they welcome an, the Falcons of Bentley to DellaCamera Stadium. In their last meeting, the Chargers took home a Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinal win away from the Falcons in double overtime. That game is set to take place this Saturday, September 23^rd at 7:00 p.m. and you can catch all the action on the Chargers Sports Network on Ne10 NOW.