When the Oneonta State men rejoined the Div. III ranks after a long run in Div. I, the goal of the program was to compete at the highest level. Well, on Friday, the Red Dragons will get that opportunity when they welcome to town the current No. 1 team in the NSCAA Coaches Div. III poll, the Christopher Newport University Captains. The match will take place on Red Dragon soccer field beginning at 4pm.

Oneonta (3-2) has won two straight including a 1-0 shutout at Rensselaer this past Tuesday night. The Red Dragons, who play an extremely tough schedule, has already played the current No. 4 team in Div. III, St. Lawrence, two weeks ago and battled them to a 3-2 contest in which Oneonta came up on the short end of the score.

Leading Oneonta thus far in the early going is junior transfer Alex Shkreli (Bedford/Fox Lane) (Bedford/Fox Lane). Shkreli, who played two seasons at the University of Delaware, currently leads the Red Dragons with three goals and two assists for eight points. One of his goals is a game-winner, which came Tuesday night versus RPI.

Right behind Shkreli is junior Eric Fortier (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) (Pleasant Valley/Arlington), who has a pair of goals and two assists for six points. Senior Gary Laronde (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills) (Wheatley Heights/Half Hollow Hills) is the only other player with multiple goals scored thus far with two scores.

Junior Maxwell Siegelman (Roslyn/Roslyn) (Roslyn/Roslyn) has seen the bulk of the minutes in goal for Oneonta and has a 3-1 record with two shutouts.

Friday's opponent, CNU, is off to a 4-0 start and moved up two spots from #3 to the top spot in this week's poll. This is the third consecutive season in which the Captains have held the #1 spot in the poll and the earliest they have reached the top of the rankings during that time.

CNU is coming off a season in which they finished 20-2-1 overall while qualifying for the NCAA tournament for a fourth time in the last five years. Last fall they advanced to the second round after two straight final eight appearances in 2008 and 2009.

The Captains have an extremely veteran group with five senior starters leading the way. All-American Brian Lybert leads the group early this season, with nine points on three goals and three assists. He became Christopher Newport's all-time leader in assists last Friday night when he helped on the game-winning goal against Virginia Wesleyan.

Two-time All-American Winston Mattheisen has seven points early this season, adding to his impressive career resume which lands him among the program's top three in goals and points scored.