A comeback effort for the SUNY Oneonta men's lacrosse team fell short against Union College today in its home opener.  The Red Dragons trailed 5-1 at halftime and nearly came all the way back, but fell 8-6 to the Dutchmen.

Senior Daniel Stern led the offense with one goal and two assists while sophomore Connor Coyle added a pair of goals for Oneonta (0-3).

Sophomore Nolan Stauffer led Union (1-1) with two goals.

Stauffer and junior Connor Hall scored just 14 seconds apart in the opening period to give the Dutchmen and early 2-0 lead.  Both goals were unassisted.

Sophomore Josh Heller scored an unassisted goal for the Red Dragons with 54 seconds remaining in the first period to cut the lead in half entering the second period.

Union got goals from Greg Mooney, Stauffer and Adam Johnson in the second period to build a 5-1 lead at halftime.

In the third period, the two teams combined for five goals with Union having a 3-2 advantage to lead 8-3 at the end of the period.  Coyle and classmate Devon Casey scored for Oneonta in the period.

Oneonta began to close the gap when Stern scored an unassisted goal at 12:31 of the fourth period to make the score 8-4.  Coyle brought Oneonta closer with a goal at 5:52 off an assist from Stern.  The Red Dragons scored one final goal with 28 seconds left for the final of 8-6.

Sophomores Kevin Fitzpatrick and Justin Benigno split the game in goal for Oneonta and combined for eight saves.

Junior Stefan Basile made 11 saves for Union in picking up his first win of 2014.

SCORING:  Oneonta
Goals: Connor Coyle (2); Josh Heller (1); Devon Casey (1); Daniel Stern (1); Mike Metzger (1)
Assists: Daniel Stern (2); Robert Neubert (1)

SCORING:  Union
Goals: Connor Hall (2); Nolan Stauffer (2); Cameron Slatton (1); Adam Johnson (1); Greg Mooney (1); Rob Santangelo (1)
Assists: Richard Gregory (1); Pat DeBenedetto (1)