Box Score The SUNY Oneonta men's soccer team got goals from four different players today in moving on to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.  The Red Dragons eliminated the MIT Engineers with a 4-2 win.

Oneonta (14-5-1) will now face Montclair State tomorrow afternoon at 1:30pm in a matchup between the only two remaining squads from last year's final four in San Antonio.  Montclair defeated Salve Regina 2-1 in its first round game earlier in the day.

Despite only five shots in the first half for Oneonta, they converted three of them into goals and took that lead into halftime.

Sophomore Mitchell Cain (Marcy/Whitesboro) got Oneonta rolling with his third goal of the season in the 14th minute.  He took a thru ball into the box by classmate Justin Rivera (Bay Shore/Bay Shore) and slid a shot along the ground that caught the inside of the left post on its way to the back of the goal.

“We have a different team this year,” said Cain.  “But I think we have just a good a team as last year's team.  MIT was a good team and we knew it would be challenging, but I think we outworked them.”

Oneonta took a two-goal lead five minutes later on a beautiful header by senior Eric Fortier (Pleasant Valley/Arlington).  Fortier went up and headed a crossing pass from freshman Sean Vinberg (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) into the left side of the goal.

Senior Alex Shkreli (Bedford/Fox Lane) added a third goal in the opening half to put Oneonta in command.  He converted the only corner kick that Oneonta had in the first twenty minutes.  Senior Dan Josepher (Manorville/Eastport/South Manor) was the one who took the kick for Oneonta, as he placed it in a spot that Shkreli could get to.

“We carried a great training session into the first half today,” said Oneonta coach Iain Byrne.  “Although we didn't generate a lot of opportunities, our finishing was tremendous.”

The second half of today's game was quite a contrast to the first, as MIT shook off the opening jitters and began to play with some confidence and urgency.

In the 61st minute, freshman Sean Bingham put MIT (13-5-2) on the scoreboard.  Bingham was in the right place at the right time to collect a loose ball in the box that came off Oneonta keeper Daniel DeBottis (Cicero/C-NS) and put the ball to the back of the goal.

“In the first half, Oneonta's experience showed and we had a tough time handling their ball movement,” said MIT coach Mike Singleton.  “We started to play better in the latter stages of the half and I knew we would have a better second half.”

Singleton continued, “We have so many young players and our future is bright.  Today's game featured two skillful teams, but Oneonta played just a bit better overall and they deserved to win.”

The game got interesting in the 67th minute when MIT got one goal closer on a goal by sophomore John Kramer.  He redirected a crossing pass from the right flank by junior Matthew Monheit.  The ball got behind DeBottis and it appeared to be knocked out by a defender, but the linesman gave the signal for a goal.

“We felt that in the second half, the next goal would be critical,” noted Byrne.  “When they scored those two goals, we were taken aback.  We like to play an attacking brand of soccer and today we showed that we could grind out a win.”

Oneonta scored the insurance goal in the 76th minute when freshman Colin Volpe (Commack/St. Anthony's) was the recipient of two great passes of a corner kick.  Junior Addison Straub (Manlius/Fayetteville Manlius) sent the ball in from the corner that made its way across the box where senior Ian Tenzer (Mahopac/Mahopac) was able to head a pass to the feet of Volpe, who one-touched the ball to finish.

Oneonta and Montclair State have met only one time previously and that came in the 2010 Mayor's Cup tournament.  The two squads battled to a 0-0 tie.

The other half of last year's final four in San Antonio is already out with first round losses.  Calvin lost on Thursday to DePauw University while Ohio Wesleyan was defeated yesterday by Centre College 2-1.