The SUNY Oneonta field hockey team is poised to make a run at the SUNYAC title and its quest will begin Friday morning at 11am versus top-seeded and host New Paltz in the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament.  Tomorrow's winner will face the SUNY Cortland/SUNY Geneseo winner in the championship game on Saturday at 1pm, also at New Paltz.

This is the second year that the conference tournament champion will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III tournament, which begins Wed., Nov. 7 with first round games.  The national championship weekend is scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y.

Oneonta enters this year's tournament as the No. 4 seed after finishing 3-3 in conference play.  The Red Dragons are 12-6 overall and winners of its last three games.  Oneonta has out scored its opponents 59-30 this season while almost doubling up in penalty corners, 218-116.

Individually, Oneonta has four players who have reached double figures in points including three who have 30+ points.  Junior Ashley Morgan (Putnam Valley/Putnam Valley) leads with 32 points on 13 goals and seven assists.  Senior Suzanne Wright (Hudson/Germantown Central) is right behind Morgan with 32 points on 13 goals and six assists.  Senior Ashley Johnson (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) has 30 points on nine goals and a team best 12 assists.  Sophomore Andrea Day (Greene/Greene) rounds out the group with 26 points on 10 goals and six assists.

Sophomore Tess Tracy (Liverpool/Liverpool) has started all 18 games in goal and has logged 1,082 minutes between the posts this fall.  She is 11-6 overall with a 1.55 goals against while recording one individual shutout.

New Paltz is 14-4 entering Friday's contest.  In the regular season meeting back on Oct. 19 in Oneonta, the Hawks escaped with a 4-3 win to clinch its SUNYAC tournament spot.

Oneonta is in search of its first SUNYAC title in the program's history.  The Red Dragons have played in three NCAA tournaments (1984, 1990, 1992).