UNION, NJ. -- The SUNY Oneonta men's lacrosse team dropped their road game against Kean University, 14-9, Saturday afternoon. Freshman
Thomas Hnis (Smithtown, N.Y./Kings Park) led the team with two goals and an assist, and sophomore
Jamie O'Neil (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) netted two goals. Junior
Stephen Barikyan (Tappan/Tappan Zee) scored a goal, collected 13 ground balls, which is tied for second most in a game in program history, and won 15 of 22 faceoffs, the sixth ever Red Dragon to win at least 15 faceoffs in a game. The Red Dragons moved to 4-3 on the season, while the Cougars improved to 4-3.
O'Neil spun off his defender and scored his 22nd goal of the season to tie it, 1-1, at 11:11. After Kean scored two goals, senior
Jesse AlfanoStJohn (Westhampton Beach/Westhampton Beach) and Hnis knotted the game at three to end the first. Hnis found AlfanoStJohn in front of the net who bounced-shot it in. In the closing seconds of the quarter, Hnis brought the ball from behind the net towards the front, absorbed a hit from a Cougar defender, and had his first shot saved by Nick Paterno, but grabbed his own miss to score on his second attempt.
Kean went up three at 5:45 in the second, but Oneonta closed the gap, 6-5, with two goals before the half. Hnis used a screen from senior
Evan Kelly (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) to get some separation for a shot that just snuck into the goal at 5:02. Not even a minute later, senior
Eric Nicholson (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown East) brought the ball behind the net and found O'Neil open for the other score.
The Red Dragons tied the game, 6-6, at 13:08 in the third when senior
Andrew Guinto (Syracuse/West Genesee) picked up a ground ball at midfield, ran with it down the sideline, and brushed off a defender as he cut in towards the net for a one-on-one with Paterno. The Cougars went on a 4-1 run to end the third period with a 10-7 lead. Barikyan scored during the stretch while man-down at 9:40, after he won the faceoff and got past two Kean midfielders to run towards the net for the shot.
Oneonta got to within one with 8:51 to play with a pair of goals from junior
Vincent Tirino (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) and senior
Matthew Krieg (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue). Tirino brushed off one defender as he sprinted up the center of the attack zone for his shot, and Krieg ran past his one defender towards the right side of the goal and scored far side. Kean netted four unanswered goals in the final six minutes to end the game, 14-9.
Senior
Harrison Boukas (North Massapequa/Plainegde) finished with 16 saves and collected seven ground balls. Paterno ended with 13 saves and two ground balls for Kean.
The Cougars outshot the Red Dragons, 55-33, and had a slight edge in ground balls, 37-35.
Oneonta concludes their four-game road stint and starts SUNYAC play against Potsdam on Saturday at 1 pm.
