During the regular season, the calling card for the SUNY Oneonta Women's Soccer team had been its well-rounded, balanced offensive attack.
On Saturday night at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., the Red Dragons proved that the postseason would be no different as the SUNYAC tournament champions had three separate players each tally a goal in its 3-1 victory against McDaniel in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament.

"Its different people stepping up with each game," SUNY Oneonta head coach Liz McGrail said.

"Jess Lyden had a great game and dominated tonight. She scored the first goal but other people have been coming on too. It's nice, all year we talked about taking small steps forward, and this is the time that we want to start peaking now, so hopefully we can keep it going."

Lyden notched the first goal of the contest in the 17th minute and her team never relinquished the lead after that. In the second half, Amanda Roney (Schoharie /Middleburgh) and Taylor Messina (Smithtown/Smithtown East) each scored to secure the NCAA tournament win.

McDaniel helped SUNY Oneonta goalkeeper Kelley Murphy (Albany/Colonie Central) warm up in the frigid November air by peppering her with two quick shots on goal within the game's first four minutes of action. Murphy, though, had no trouble turning away both as neither of the opportunities boasted a strong finish.

In the ninth minute, the Red Dragons returned the favor on a Kayla Ceschini (Miller Place/Miller Place) shot that was struck well but placed directly within McDaniel keeper Sarah McDonald's reach as McDonald grabbed the save.

The scoreless tie was broken when, in the 17th minute of the first half, a cross from Ceschini found the head of Lyden, who volleyed her shot from close-range to make the score 1-0 in favor of SUNY Oneonta. The pass from Ceschini was accurately placed, and came at the end of a fluid offensive break into the Green Terror's defensive zone.

"She had a great cross before that one," Lyden said of Ceschini's pass. "And I didn't get on the end of it, so I knew with the next one that I would just have to keep running through to get on the end of it."

For the remainder of the first half, the two teams did most of their battling for possession around the midfield area. Neither SUNY Oneonta nor McDaniel would record another shot on goal. Each squad granted itself with an equal amount of scoring opportunities in the first half, the only difference being the finish on the score by Lyden.

The Red Dragons wasted little time in doubling their lead, as Amanda Roney (Schoharie /Middleburgh) scored just two minutes into the second half to extend the SUNYAC champs' lead to 2-0. Roney's score came on a loose ball that emerged from a scrum in front of the McDaniel net and that squirted out towards the sophomore, who lofted a shot that eluded the goalie McDonald and found the back of the net.

In the 68th minute, McDaniel halved the SUNY Oneonta lead on a free kick, when Abby Keen airmailed a cross field pass to Erin Brinley, who finished the attempt past the Red Dragons' second-half keeper, Rori Stark (Brewster/Brewster), to shave the deficit to 2-1.

It wouldn't take long for SUNY Oneonta to answer though, as Messina pushed out on her own on a clean, one-woman break and crossed up the Green Terror's goalie on a misdirection shot to take a 3-1 lead.

"I usually don't beat people on the run too much, but I just knew this was the one," Messina said.

"I was like, 'I'm going for this one.' I picked my head up and saw the left corner open and I took the shot."

From there, the Red Dragons would continue to secure a stranglehold on the game's momentum, refuting every attempt by McDaniel at gaining ground in their zone until the final buzzer sounded to award SUNY Oneonta with a 3 to 1 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament.

SUNY Oneonta advances to the second round and will play at 5 p.m. on Sunday against Carnegie Mellon.