The SUNY Oneonta women's soccer team will host Brockport this Wednesday at 11am in the SUNYAC tournament semifinals. Oneonta is the top seed and earned a bye into the semifinals of the tournament after winning the regular season title. Brockport, who is the No. 4 seed, defeated Oswego this past Saturday 2-1.
Admission to the game will be $6 for adults, $3 for children 5-12, free for children under 5 and college students with a valid student ID.
The Red Dragons, currently ranked No. 5 in the NCAA East Region poll, are 10-4-3 overall and completed their first unbeaten season in the conference 6-0-3 since 2006 when the Red Dragons were 10-0 in the regular season in the SUNYAC. Oneonta is 7-1-3 in its last 11 games leading up to Wednesday's match including a weekend sweep of Buffalo State and Fredonia that clinched the regular season title.
Oneonta is making its 18th SUNYAC tournament appearance, as they chase its 15th conference title. Oneonta's last title came in 2010. Last year, they advanced to the championship game before falling to rival SUNY Cortland 2-1. Oneonta won nine straight SUNYAC championships from 1999-2008, which is the longest such streak in the history of the conference.
In their regular season matchup at Brockport, Oneonta defeated the Golden Eagles 2-0. Ceschini and classmate
Jessica Lyden (Burnt Hills/Burnt Hills) each scored for the Red Dragons.
The two teams have met four previous times in the conference tournament, the last coming in the 2008 championship game. The two tied 2-2, but Oneonta won 7-6 in the shootout to capture the SUNYAC title. Oneonta is 3-0-1 all-time in the conference tournament against Brockport while outscoring the Golden Eagles 10-2.
Senior
Karly DeSimone (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) is having the best season of her career offensively. She leads her team and the SUNYAC in points (23). She leads her team with eight goals and seven assists and is second in game-winning goals with four. Sophomore
Kayla Ceschini (Miller Place/Miller Place) is having a second solid season for Oneonta and is second on the team with 13 points while having a team best five game-winners.
Sophomores
Rori Stark (Brewster/Brewster) and
Kelley Murphy (Albany/Colonie Central) have shared time in goal this fall. Stark has logged 877 minutes while Murphy has played 678 minutes. Murphy is 6-3 in eight starts with a 0.93 goals against while recording a pair of shutouts. Stark has started nine games and has a goals against of 0.62 with four shutouts.
Oneonta has outscored its opponents 32-13 while recording eight shutouts this season. The Red Dragons also have a decided advantage in shots (224-174) and corner kicks (89-46).
Brockport will enter Wednesday's contest 12-3-1 overall. They earned the No. 4 seed in this year's tournament after finishing 5-3-1 in conference play.
Wednesday's winner will play in the SUNYAC championship game on Saturday versus the winner of the Buffalo State/SUNY Geneseo game, also on Wednesday in Buffalo. The championship game will be played at the site of the highest remaining seed.
