ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNY Oneonta men's lacrosse team fell on the road against Skidmore, 15-8, Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore
Jamie O'Neil (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) recorded a hat trick and senior
Matthew Krieg (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) finished with one goal and two assists. The Red Dragons moved to 1-1 on the season while the Thoroughbreds improved to 4-0.
Junior
Stephen Barikyan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) won the opening faceoff, maneuvered past several Skidmore defenders towards the net, and scored to give Oneonta a 1-0 lead 16 seconds into the game. A minute after Skidmore tied it, senior
Eric Nicholson (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown East) gave a no-look pass into the attack zone to Krieg who fed it towards the net to O'Neil for a goal at 8:47. The Thoroughbreds scored three more to take a 4-2 lead at the end of the first.
Identical to how the game started, Barikyan won the opening faceoff in the second quarter and got the ball to Krieg who threaded a pass through traffic to freshman
Thomas Hnis (Smithtown, N.Y./Kings Park) for the score at 14:52. Skidmore added four unanswered to take an 8-3 advantage at 9:23, however Oneonta closed out the half with three goals to cut the deficit to two. Sophomore
Anthony Munro (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) sniped the ball top shelf past a heavily contested defender and goalie Avery Stamps. Following a save from senior
Harrison Boukas (North Massapequa/Plainegde), the Red Dragons pushed the ball up and got it to senior
Jesse AlfanoStJohn (Westhampton Beach/Westhampton Beach) at the top of the attack zone. AlfanoStJohn passed the ball to Hnis as he charged towards the net for his second goal of the game. Oneonta made it an 8-6 game at 1:59 when sophomore Danny Macciarella spun away from his defender behind the goal and passed to O'Neil near the net for the diving goal.
The Thoroughbreds scored six unanswered to start the third quarter to take a 14-6 lead at 4:44. The Red Dragons scored one in the third when Nicholson brought the ball down towards the right side of the goal and, as a second defender closed in on him, he passed it to an open O'Neil on the left side of the net to make it 14-7.
Each team recorded one goal in the fourth. Brian Gonsalves scored one for the Thoroughbreds, while Munro fought for a ground ball at midfield, spun away from two defenders, and found Krieg on the right side of the zone for the goal.
Hnis finished with two goals while Munro had one goal and an assist. Barikyan won 11 of his 21 faceoffs and collected six groundballs. Both Boukas and Stamps ended the game with 12 saves, Cameron Shipman came in for the final two minutes and made two saves for the Thoroughbreds.
Gonsalves finished with four goals for Skidmore and Charlie McFadden ended with three goals and an assist.
Oneonta had a 36-33 advantage in ground balls, while Skidmore had a 44-38 edge in shots.
The Red Dragons are back in action Saturday, March 2, for a road contest against Morrisville at 1 pm.
