ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The No. 19 SUNY Oneonta men's soccer team controlled the pitch for the full 90 minutes in their SUNYAC match against SUNY Canton and walked away with a 3-0 victory on Senior Day, Saturday afternoon. The Red Dragons scored all three goals in the second half with senior
Derek Marques (Somers, N.Y./Somers) netting the game-winner off a penalty kick in the 49th minute. Senior
Nate Masucci (Greece, N.Y./Greece Athena) scored his first career goal with Oneonta in the 84th and senior
Dan Costello (Northport, N.Y./Northport) recorded his first career point with an assist on Masucci's goal. Freshman
Nico Loaiza (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) recorded the other goal for the Red Dragons, off an assist by senior
Ali Somow (Utica, N.Y./Proctor), as the team improved to 9-3-3 on the season, 5-2-0 in SUNYAC play, and the Roos dropped to 3-13-1 overall, 0-7-0 in the conference.
"It's always good to get a win on Senior Day," head coach
Iain Byrne stated. "And it was good to see a couple of them on the scoresheet."
In the 49th minute, Loaiza received the ball on the left side of the field and began to enter the penalty area where he got tripped up by a defender and was awarded a penalty kick. Marques took the kick and scored his third goal of the season into the lower left corner, while the Canton keeper, Nolan Sullivan, anticipated the right side.
The Red Dragons kept possession of the ball in the Roos' territory looking for the second goal and added to the lead in the 80th. Somow got the ball around midfield and sprinted past one defender into the 18-yard box. He worked the ball towards the endline then passed it to an open Loaiza on the far side of the goal area for the score, Loaiza's second goal and Somow's fifth assist of the season.
The final goal was scored in the 84th minute off a corner kick. Somow took the corner and gave a quick pass in front of him to Costello. Costello moved the ball towards the side of the penalty area and crossed it towards the goal area where the ball bounced between a couple of players before Masucci slid and kicked it in for the goal.
Senior
Jax Flugel (Rochester, N.Y./) recorded the shutout with one save. The save happened in the 30th minute when Chris Escobar kicked a liner from 25 yards out that made Flugel leap up and catch the ball for the stop. Sullivan finished with eight saves for the Roos. Oneonta outshot Canton 24-3 overall, 11-1 on target, and held a 13-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Throughout the day, the Red Dragons celebrated the careers of six of their seniors for Senior Day. Those recognized were Costello, Flugel, Marques, Masucci,
Owen Siegel (Liberty, N.Y./Liberty), and Somow.
Oneonta is on the road for their next SUNYAC match against New Paltz on Wednesday, October 23, at 3 pm.
