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At the conclusion of the SUNYAC tournament, the SUNY Oneonta men's soccer team was already pumped up for an opportunity to compete against the best teams in Div. III while setting its sights on San Antonio and the national championship.  Well, four weeks later, the Red Dragons will have that opportunity in the NCAA Div. III national championship weekend.  The Red Dragons will face Calvin College in its national semifinal beginning at 8pm CST.  The winner will play for a national title on Saturday night beginning at 5:30pm CST.

“We deserve to be in San Antonio along with the other three schools,” said senior goalkeeper Maxwell Siegelman (Roslyn/Roslyn) (Roslyn/Roslyn).  “Representing Oneonta, especially on the field, has been a tremendous experience for all of us.”

“We have managed to beat some great teams to reach the Final Four,” said SUNY Oneonta head coach Iain Byrne.  “We know the next two wins will be the most difficult. We are heading down to Texas full of confidence, and we are excited and proud to be representing our college, the SUNYAC Conference, and the City of Oneonta.”

Byrne, who is in his ninth year as head coach and 15th overall with the men's program, has built Oneonta steadily through the recruiting process while guiding it through the transition from Div. I to Div. III in 2006.  He eclipsed 100 career wins as a head coach back on Nov. 2 versus Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC tournament semifinals.  He is currently 105-48-22 overall for a .663 winning percentage.  He has directed the men's program to back-to-back conference regular season titles while guiding Oneonta to its first SUNYAC crown since 1985.

Oneonta (18-2-2) punched its ticket to San Antonio after a couple of thrilling overtime wins two weekends ago at St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y.  The Red Dragons defeated the host Saints 2-1 in two overtimes and then posted a come-from-behind, 2-1 win versus Rutgers-Camden in the second overtime.

The Red Dragons opened its NCAA run at home with wins against Baldwin Wallace, 2-1 in the first round, before taking out Penn State Behrend 4-0 in the second round.

Oneonta's semifinal opponent received an at-large berth into this year's tournament after falling 1-0 to Olivet in the championship game of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament.  The Knights did capture the regular season title and will enter this weekend's semifinal 18-5-2 overall.

Calvin is making its second appearance in the championship weekend with the other prior trip coming just two years ago in 2009.  That year they advanced to the title game, but came up short to Messiah 2-0.  In the last 10 years, the Knights have made seven NCAA tournament appearances, four of those appearances have seen them advance to the round of 16 and three of those appearances have landed them in the quarterfinals with two trips to the final weekend.

The two squads are almost a mirror image of each other statistically entering the match.  Both squads have posted 54 goals to this point.  The only difference is Calvin has allowed 19 goals while Oneonta 18.  The Knights have generated 476 shots to Oneonta's 338, but the Red Dragons have a higher percentage of shots on goal.

The other semifinal match will be played at 5:30pm CST between Montclair State and Ohio Wesleyan.

Ohio Wesleyan is playing in its 32nd Div. III tournament and its ninth appearance in the national semifinals.  The Battling Bishops won the 1998 national championship while finishing as runner-up in 1990 and 1992.  They are 21-2 overall and were ranked #6 in the NSCAA Div. III Coaches poll dated Nov. 8.  Prior to its loss to DePauw in the NCAC tournament, Ohio Wesleyan had won 18 straight games after falling, 2-1, to defending national champion, Messiah, in its season opener.

Montclair State, the only team in San Antonio that Oneonta has played previously, is making its 12th appearance overall in the Div. III tournament and sixth straight.  Oneonta and Montclair met in the 2010 Oneonta Mayor's Cup tournament and battled to a 0-0 tie.

The Red Hawks are 19-3-3 overall and are in the national semifinals for the first time in the program's history.  In last year's NCAA tournament, the Red Hawks won its opening game before falling to eventual national champion Messiah in the second round.

Oneonta has the longest unbeaten (19 games) and winning streak (14 games) of any of the four teams in this weekend's championship.  The Red Dragons are the only team that received an automatic berth into the tournament as all of the other teams lost in their respective conference tournaments.  Montclair State was tripped up in the NJAC final by Rutgers-Camden, the squad that Oneonta defeated to get to San Antonio.

“SUNY Oneonta is a great place for education and athletics,” said senior Nicholas Gregg (Apalachin/Owego Free Academy) (Apalachin/Owego Free Academy).  “Everyone in the town and on campus has been so supportive and wants to see Oneonta athletics do well in every sport.  To be part of Oneonta athletics is an honor and to help bring this school to this point is absolutely amazing.”

The Oneonta men will be carrying the torch for the SUNYAC this weekend, which hasn't had a national champion in men's soccer since 1974, which was the first year of the Div. III tournament.  That year Brockport won the title in what was the first of three straight appearances in the national championship game.  The only other conference school to play in the national championship game is Cortland, which did so in 1977.  The last school to advance this far in the tournament is Plattsburgh in 2005.

Oneonta is making its first appearance in the NCAA Div. III tournament in 2011 after winning its first SUNYAC title since joining the ranks of Div. III in 2006.  The Red Dragons received the conference's automatic berth into the field of 61 after defeating Brockport 1-0, in the SUNYAC championship game.

Prior to 2006, Oneonta competed in Div. I before officially joining Div. III.  During that time, Oneonta made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament from 1972-75.  In 1972, the Red Dragons played in the first NCAA Division II national championship game against SIU-Edwardsville.  Oneonta's appearances from 1973-75 were in the Div. I tournament.  Also, during that time, Oneonta competed in the SUNYAC as a full member, eligible for the conference championship.  The last SUNYAC championship for Oneonta came in 1985 when they captured its only other tournament title.

Oneonta's last year in the SUNYAC was 1988, before rejoining the conference in 2007.  The Red Dragons did play a full conference schedule in 2007, going 11-0, but they weren't eligible for the SUNYAC tournament until 2008.  Since that time, Oneonta has qualified for the conference tournament, earning the top seed each of the last two years.

Oneonta's 19-game (17-0-2) unbeaten streak is a program record and its 14 consecutive wins is the second longest such streak since the 2007 season when the Red Dragons won 11 straight.

Statistically, the Red Dragons have six players who have registered double-digits in points led by junior Eric Fortier (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) (Pleasant Valley/Arlington).  Fortier, who was selected as the SUNYAC Player of the Year, has recorded 12 goals and four assists for 28 points including four game-winning goals.

Classmate Dan Josepher (Manorville/Eastport/South Manor)  (Manorville/Eastport South Manor) is next with 11 goals and one assist for 23 points.  Josepher earned third team All-SUNYAC honors this fall.

Senior Gary Laronde (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills) (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills), who was the MVP of the SUNYAC Tournament, is third with 16 points on six goals and four assists.  Junior Alex Shkreli (Bedford/Fox Lane) (Fox Lane/Bedford) is next with 15 points on five goals and five assists.

Freshman Justin Rivera (Bay Shore/Bay Shore) (Bay Shore/Bay Shore), who was selected as the conference Rookie of the Year, has 14 points on five goals and four assists.  Senior Nicholas Lange (Freeville/Dryden) (Freeville/Dryden) added himself to the double-digit group during the opening weekend of the tournament and currently has two goals and six assists for 10 points.

In the goal, it has been Siegelman who has been the mainstay for the Red Dragons this fall.  Siegelman is 17-1-2 overall with four shutouts and a goals against average of 0.89.  He has logged 1,717 minutes and has made 57 saves including 13 during the sectional round.  Siegelman's 17 wins in goal is a single season record, which surpassed the old record of 15 wins established in 1985 by Tom Carmichael.

“To be able to end my collegiate soccer career as a conference champion would have been an awesome feeling,” said Lange.  “At this point, being four games deep in the NCAA tournament and only two wins away from a national championship, I can't even describe my emotions.  This team has been so close, both on and off the field.  I couldn't ask for a better way to go out than by doing something so amazing with such a great group of guys.  It's really a privilege.”

Byrne concluded, “This tournament run has been such a great experience for all of us. It is hard to believe we have not lost since Labor Day.  We have a purpose and our goal is to play with pride and to give it our best effort.”