The SUNY Oneonta women's soccer team will open play this weekend in the 2015 NCAA Division III tournament hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.  Their first round opponent is McDaniel College, who earned an At-large berth out of the Centennial Conference.  The two will square off in the second of two games on Saturday beginning at 7:30pm.
 
The first game of the evening will feature host Carnegie Mellon from the Liberty League versus Cabrini of the Colonial States Athletic Conference at 5pm.  Carnegie Mellon won the University Athletic Association (UAA) championship and received a Pool B berth while Cabrini earned the automatic qualifying berth after winning the Capital States Athletic Conference championship.
 
Saturday's winners will meet in the second round on Sunday at 5 p.m.
 
The Red Dragons will be making its 15th NCAA appearance, its first since 2013, after winning its 13th SUNYAC title this past Saturday versus Buffalo State 3-1.  The 13 conference championships are the most all-time for women's soccer in the SUNYAC.  The Red Dragons had a run of 12 straight NCAA tournament berths from 1999-2010.
 
"This year the players are not satisfied with just being in the tournament," said Head Coach Liz McGrail.  "The team has worked hard to get to this point and they want more."
 
The women have one national title to its credit, which they hosted and won in 2003 against the University of Chicago 2-1.  The Red Dragons tied the score in the final minute of the game before ending it two minutes into the first overtime on a goal by Sanada Mujanovic.  That championship is the last time the national championship weekend was on a college campus.
 
Oneonta will enter the tournament with an overall record of 14-3-2 including an 8-2 record in its last 10 games.  The Red Dragons have outscored its opponents 36-13 while holding a decided advantage in shots 273-173.  They also hold nearly a 3-to-1 advantage in corner kicks at 113-44.
 
This season, Oneonta has managed a very balanced attack with many players contributing to the offense.  It seems a different player each game has stepped up and scored a big goal.  The evidence of this is the fact that 10 players have scored at least one game-winner this fall.  Sophomore Kayla Belush (Earlville/Sherburne-Earlville) has a team best three game-winners while seniors Avery Serfis (West Hurley/Onteora) and Kayla Distin (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) each have two winners.  Serfis leads the team with six goals and 12 points.
 
"This team and this year have been so special," said senior Captain Serfis.  "From the first day of preseason, I knew we would do great things. I have never been part of a team with such talent and determination that it makes me so proud of what we have already accomplished as well as excited to see what we can do in the NCAA tournament."
 
Serfis continued, "It has been four years of hard-work, overcoming obstacles, smiles, tears, and definitely a lot of sweat, but here we are together with a huge opportunity in front of us and I know we will do all we can to make our school proud and our season last."
 
Senior Kayla Ceschini (Miller Place/Miller Place) has 10 points as the only other player in double digits.  Ceschini was selected as the SUNYAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.
 
Senior Captain Caitlyn LaPier (Chazy/Chazy) added, "This weekend is going to make every extra sprint we did over the summer, every 6am fitness, and every sacrifice we have made more than worth it. We have prepared for this moment in more ways than you can imagine and now this is the fun part, we can't wait to play."
 
The senior duo of Kelly Murphy and Rori Stark (Brewster/Brewster) has anchored the Red Dragons' defense.  The two have split time in goal during the final two-thirds of the season.  Murphy has posted a pair of shutouts while the two have combined for seven more this fall.  Murphy has logged 1,055 minutes and has a 0.60 goals against and a save percentage of 88 percent while putting together a record of 8-1-1.  Stark is 6-2-1 with a 0.79 goals against and a save percentage of 87 percent in 685 minutes of action.
 
Oneonta has never faced any of the teams in this weekend's pod.  The Red Dragons are 16-12-2 all-time in its 14 previous NCAA appearances.
 
McGrail concluded, "I am happy with our draw even though we have to travel a bit further.  We're excited to get out of the region and show how talented New York teams are, but we have to give respect to those teams that are in the tournament because anything can happen."
 
Scouting McDaniel
The Green Terror (15-2-2) fell to eventual conference champion Johns Hopkins 1-0 in Saturday's Centennial Conference (CC) semifinal but earned one of 20 Pool C bids into the field of 64.
 
The Green Terror is making its first NCAA tournament berth.
 
Junior Nicole Hill (Bowie, Md./Bowie) leads McDaniel with 11 goals and 31 points. She is second on the team with nine assists.
 
Senior Maggie Quinn (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) has added eight goals, six assist and 22 points while freshman Kirsten Gibson (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) has chipped in eight goals, five assists and 21 points. Sophomore Abby Keen (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) leads the team with 10 assists.
 
Sophomore Sarah McDonald (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) has posted a 0.58 goals-against average and a save percentage of .848.
 
Scouting Carnegie Mellon
The Carnegie Mellon University women's soccer team received an at-large bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship after finishing as the Co-Champions of the University Athletic Association and holding a national ranking as high as third during the season.
 
The appearance in the NCAA tournament marks the fourth straight for the program, as they finished the regular season with a 15-1-1 overall mark.
 
Scouting Cabrini
The Cavaliers (11-5-3) are making its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, after winning its fifth consecutive Colonial States Athletic Conference title on Saturday.  Senior Kaitlyn Cooper scored the match's lone goal in the 80th minute and was named the championship's Most Valuable Player.

The Blue and White suffered a 5-0 loss to Carnegie Mellon in the opening round of the 2012 tournament.
 
The winner of this weekend's opening round will advance to the sectional round next weekend where the tournament will be narrowed down to the final four teams.  The national championship weekend is scheduled for Friday & Saturday, Dec. 4-5 in Kansas City, Missouri.