A Quick Look
Senior
Witman Hernandez (Huntington/Walt Whitman) scored the game's only goal in the 85
th minute today to lift the SUNY Oneonta men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory against New Paltz in the SUNYAC opener for both teams.
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"It's always a boost to open conference play with a win," said Head Coach
Iain Byrne. "It was a lackluster performance in front of a great crowd. Once again, Witman came to the rescue. He's playing at a level I haven't seen in my 22 years here."
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The Inside Story
The two teams battled through the first 45 minutes ending in a scoreless tie. Both teams had a few scoring opportunities but shots were wide or high of the goal. Oneonta keeper
Francesco Scotti (Commack/Commack) all three of his three saves in the first half.
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On a couple of occasions in the second half, it looked like Oneonta (8-1) would get on the scoreboard but New Paltz (6-3) keeper Marc DePasquale came up with a pair of saves to keep the game scoreless.
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The first dangerous opportunity for Oneonta came in the 58
th minute by sophomore
Matt Howe (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) who had DePasquale down but couldn't chip it by him. Fifteen minutes later, classmate
Jeremy Pantoni (Goshen/Goshen) had a shot from close in that actually deflected off DePasquale and then off of one of his defenders back into his hands.
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The game-winner finally came for the Red Dragons set up by a tremendous individual effort by senior defender
Dominick Dabrowski (Patchogue/Patchogue-Medford). Dabrowski anticipated and intercepted a pass at midfield before carrying it forward down the left wing. Just outside the box, he slid a pass that Hernandez collected before sliding a shot along the ground into the far right corner of the goal.
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Just the Stats
The game was as even as you could get except on the scoreboard. The shots were 11 apiece as well as two corner kicks each. The goal for Hernandez was his tenth of the season.
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What's Next
Oneonta begins a two-week road trip this upcoming Friday at Fredonia. The Red Dragons won't return home until Friday, Oct. 18.
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