A Quick Look
The SUNY Oneonta men's soccer season came to a close today with a 4-1 loss to Messiah in the second round of the NCAA tournament.  The SUNYAC regular season and tournament champion Red Dragons finished the season with a record of 18-3.  The 18 wins for Oneonta tied for the third most all-time in program history matching the 2011 squad.
 
"You have to acknowledge Messiah," said Head Coach Iain Byrne.  "They are a great team and good to watch.  We matched them stride for stride in the first half but couldn't sustain the effort in the second."
 
Byrne continued, "Yesterday's game didn't help us, as we ended up putting so much into the match to win and it caught up with us in the second half today."
 
The Inside Story
Messiah (18-2-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 25 minutes of the match.  The first goal came off the foot of sophomore Lucas Kokolios in the 21^st minute.  Kokolios took a pass from senior Micah Fitz that came into the box.  Kokolios then took one touch and fired a shot that deflected off the Oneonta keeper's hands before hitting the back of the net.
 
The Falcons struck for its second goal just four minutes later when junior Trevor Goodling broke free in alone behind the defense.  Sophomore Reid Ruark sent a ball forward that sailed into the offensive third where Goodling ran up on it to chip it over a charging keeper.  The ball looked like it was going to go wide left, but it ended up hitting the left post and came back out to Goodling who had continued to chase the shot.  Goodling put the rebound back across the goal line for his 11^th goal of the season.
 
Oneonta began to pick up the pace and turned up the attack paying off in cutting the deficit to 2-1 ten minutes later.  Prior to the goal, junior Roberto Ventura (Brentwood/Brentwood) had a low shot that was headed into the left corner of the goal but was pushed aside by Messiah keeper Nate Flanders.  Three minutes later, the Red Dragons finally knocked one home.
 
Oneonta's goal was set up by sophomore Jeremy Pantoni (Goshen/Goshen), who had just entered the game two minutes earlier.  He controlled the ball just outside the box and sent a pass across the front of the goal where it was deflected in tight.  In the scramble, the ball appeared to bounce off a defender and then off senior Witman Hernandez (Huntington/Walt Whitman) who finished the play for the score.
 
For Hernandez, it was his 26^th goal of the season, which leads all NCAA Divisions.  Hernandez had a season-ending run like none other in program history scoring at least one goal in his last eight games including five games with two goals.  Six of the eight games he tallied the game-winner for the Red Dragons.
 
The Falcons tacked on its final two goals in the second half for the final margin of victory.  Ruark scored a header goal off a corner kick in the 65^th minute while Grant Johnson converted a penalty kick in the 75^th minute.
 
Just the Stats
After holding an 8-7 advantage in shots through the first half, Oneonta was outshot 14-5 in the second half.  The Falcons generated seven corner kicks while Oneonta had only one for the match.
 
Oneonta keeper Francesco Scotti (Commack/Commack) recorded a pair of saves while Flanders made one stop in the contest.
 
"It's been a great season and our seniors can go out with their heads held high," concluded Byrne.