Box Score Today's men's soccer matchup between No. 24 SUNY Oneonta and No. 1 and defending Division III national champion lived up to the hype, as the game went into overtime before Messiah took a 2-1 victory in front of 1,200 fans adorned in Red and White.

This was the second straight year that Oneonta took Messiah to overtime.  Last fall, the Red Dragons battled the Falcons to a scoreless draw.

The game-winner came in the 93rd minute when Joshua Wood got his head on a crossing pass from the left flank by Jack Thompson and redirected the ball passed an outstretched Daniel DeBottis (/).

The two squads battled through the first 90 minutes deadlocked at 1-1.  Messiah held a slight advantage overall in shots at the conclusion of regulation 9-7.

After a scoreless first half, Mike Kovach blasted a shot into the upper right corner to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the 58th minute.  Kovach took the pass from Brian Ramirez and moved by a defender before getting the shot off that tipped off the left hand of DeBottis.

The Red Dragons continued to battle and finally broke through in the 69th minute.  Sophomore Brian Bartichek (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) stole the ball from a Messiah defender just outside the box and sent the ball across where classmate Dylan Williams (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) one-touched the ball to a waiting Alex Winiarski (Great Neck/St. Anthony's).  Winiarski wasted no time in getting off a shot that sailed to the back of the goal to tie the game at one apiece.

Both goalkeepers kept the game scoreless in the first half with some great stops.  Oneonta had five shots including three that were on goal that Falcon keeper, Brandon West, was up to the task.

On the other end, DeBottis made a couple of diving stops that were labeled for the back of the goal.

Tomorrow both teams will be in action on the final day of the Oneonta Mayor's Cup tournament.  Messiah will take on No. 9 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 1pm.  Oneonta will face Franklin & Marshall at 4pm.  F&M defeated CMS in today's early matchup, 4-0.