FAYETTEVILLE, NC. -- The SUNY Oneonta men's lacrosse team scored eight in the first quarter to build up an eight-goal lead at half en route to a 17-12 win over Methodist, Tuesday evening. The Red Dragons improved to 4-2 overall as freshman Jamie O'Neil (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) recorded six goals, senior Matthew Krieg (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) tallied three goals with two assists, and junior Evan Kelly (Niskayuna/Niskayuna) finished with a hat trick. The result dropped the Monarchs to 3-5 on the season.

Senior Sam Haita (Stephentown/La Salle Institute) started Oneonta's early run with an unassisted goal at 10:00 before O'Neil scored his first off the dish by Krieg. Following O'Neil's goal, the Red Dragons won back-to-back faceoffs and immediately sprinted down into the attack zone to score another two. Junior Stephen Sommo (Floral Park/Floral Park) won the first faceoff and collected the groundball to fire it himself, then sophomore Steve Barikyan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) won the second faceoff, junior Ray Raefski (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) collected the groundball and senior Jake Dominikoski (Niskayuna/Niskayuna) scored his first of the season, extending the lead to four at 7:45, forcing Methodist to call a timeout. Jesse Leyble found the net for the Monarchs first at 6:21, but the Red Dragons closed out the quarter with another four unanswered. Kelly started the second offensive stretch off an assist from senior Connor Gallagher (Montrose/Hendrick Hudson) before Gallagher ripped one in on his own. O'Neil tallied the last two of the quarter, recording his hat trick off an assist from senior Bryce Caffrey (Montrose/Hendrick Hudson), and Oneonta went into the second up 8-1.  

O'Neil and Kelly continued the run in the second with a couple goals, extending the margin to 10-1 at 12:13. The teams went back-and-forth in scoring to close out the half with Methodist having a 3-2 advantage. Haita scored on a man down opportunity then assisted Krieg for the Red Dragons to go into the half up 12-4.

In the third period, Monarch's Hunter Vaughan scored two goals and assisted one to give their offense a spark, but Oneonta kept their distance with a pair of goals from O'Neil and Krieg to head into the fourth up seven.  

Freshman Brian Zecchini (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot) recorded his first point as a Red Dragon assisting Kelly for his hat trick to put the Red Dragons back up eight with 10:59 to play. The Monarchs started to close the gap, cutting the lead to six at 8:59 then again at 5:35 following Krieg's third goal. Methodist got to within four with 1:52 to play, but there was not enough time to get closer and O'Neil tacked on one more with 45 seconds left.

Haita finished with two goals and an assist, Gallagher ended with a goal and an assist, and Caffrey had a pair of assists. Junior Harrison Boukas (North Massapequa/Plainegde) ended the day with seven saves and Barikyan won six of nine faceoffs.  

Vaughan had four goals and an assist for the Monarchs. Gabe Russell started in the cage and recorded five saves in 17 minutes and Jackson Bulkin played the final 43 minutes and finished with nine saves.  

Oneonta outshot Methodist 62-27, had a 38-28 groundball advantage, and were 22-25 on clear attempts.

The Red Dragons are back in action Saturday, March 25, to host SUNY Potsdam for the start of SUNYAC play at 1 pm.  Read Full Article