Box Score SUNY Oneonta junior Brian Kollar (East Islip/East Islip) netted a pair of goals today, but a tough Rensselaer Engineer defense allowed only three goals per half in their 8-6 win against the Red Dragons today in a non conference showdown.
After Oneonta (2-2) took a 1-0 lead on a Jimmy van de Veerdonk goal at 8:24 of the first quarter, Rensselaer (4-0) scored six unanswered goals including a pair from Paul Cerone (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield) to finish the scoring run.
Kollar's first goal of the contest trimmed the lead to 7-2, but the Engineers would answer back with 58 seconds remaining in the first half on a goal by David Hey (Chapel Hill, NC/Durham Academy), who received the pass from Cerone to finish the first-half scoring for Rensselaer. The Red Dragons would get one more tally in the final six seconds on a goal by senior Matt Coyne (Brightwaters/Bay Shore) to trail 7-3 at intermission.
After the halftime break Oneonta would make a change in goal bringing in sophomore transfer student Chris Miles (Manlius/Fayetteville Manlius) for the second time this season. Miles made his initial debut in the season opener against Mary Washington. However, a pushing penalty on Tyler Gore (Rye/Christian Brothers Academy) would cost the team another goal as Devin Arnold (Buffalo/Canisius) would score his second man-up goal of the game at the 12:54 mark of the third period, which would be the Engineer's final goal of the game.
The fourth quarter was quiet for both teams until the 2:40 mark of the period when Oneonta senior Steve Loesch (Massapequa/St. Anthony's) would score on a man-up situation after Rensselaer's Andrew Liptak (Westfield, MA/Westfield) would take a slashing penalty 41 seconds earlier. Rounding out the scoring was Kollar who scored his second of the afternoon with 1:01 remaining in the game.
Rensselaer netminder James Manchester (Niskayuna/Niskayuna) won his fourth game of the year while stopping ten shots, including six in the second half.
On the other end of the field, starter Sean Reynolds (Bethpage/Bethpage) struggled to find his game allowing seven goals on eight shots-on-goal. Miles in the relief effort made six saves in his 30 minutes of action and allowed just one goal in helping Oneonta close the scoring margin throughout the second half.
Oneonta's next game will be on the road this Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m. when the Red Dragons travel to Rochester to take on the undefeated Cardinals (4-0) of St. John Fisher College.
