ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's soccer team suffered a setback in the SUNYAC as they fell to New Paltz, 1-0, in a conference match Wednesday afternoon. The Hawks had to play a man-down after one of their defenders received his second yellow card by the ninth minute, then they scored in the 14th and held off the Red Dragons for the remainder of the game. Despite the outcome, Oneonta clinched a spot in the SUNYAC tournament and moved to 9-4-3 in the season, 4-2-2 in the SUNYAC, while New Paltz improved to 9-3-4 overall and 4-2-2 in the conference.
"Fair play to New Paltz," head coach
Iain Byrne commented. "They played 82 minutes with 10 players, kept a clean sheet, and scored the game-winner."
In the fifth minute of play, New Paltz's Ryan Bochenski was tagged with his first yellow card, then, four minutes later, senior
Luigi Prosperi (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) received the ball and got past the keeper for an open shot on net, but Bochenski pushed Prosperi down before he could get a shot off, just inside the 18, and was tagged with his second yellow card, which set up an Oneonta penalty kick. Senior
Zach Rabadi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) took the PK for the Red Dragons, and it was saved by the Hawks goalie, Matt Katz.
New Paltz scored in the 14th minute when Ryan Zindler sent a centering pass to David Lamour eight yards out from the net. Lamour tried for a header, but he didn't get enough power behind the shot, so Alex Wyant went for the ball and, just before junior
James Cintron (Poughkeepsie, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) could grab it, Wyant gave one final touch for the score.
Shortly after Wyant's goal, in the 15th minute, Katz received the ball at the top of the box and was looking to clear it when Prosperi charged in and deflected the kick. The ball bounced towards the unguarded net, but it took too long to come down from the bounce, and Prosperi could not get a shot off before Katz surrounded him and scooped the ball up.
Rabadi had a shot for the equalizer in the 40th minute when the ball was redirected by a defender towards him inside the 18, but his turnaround shot hit the crossbar. The senior had a couple more chances in the 61st when he received a pass from junior
Imari Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston) for a header, then again in the 78th minute with a shot from the top of the penalty box, however they were both stopped by the Hawks keeper.
The Red Dragons had a few other opportunities to tie the match in the second half, but came up empty each time. In the 61st, senior
Sam Rogers (Broadalbin, N.Y./Broadalbin-Perth) passed the ball into the penalty area to senior
Joe Holder (Greenwood Lake, N.Y./Warwick), and Holder poked it towards the center of the box, but he just missed Prosperi on the pass and the ball deflected off a defender's foot for the goalie to grab. Junior
Adrian Matute (Islip, N.Y./Islip) had the last attempt for the team in the 82nd minute with a shot from 30 yards out, and Katz was able to catch it for the save.
Cintron finished with a save for the Red Dragons, while Katz ended with three saves for the Hawks.
Oneonta held a 16-6 advantage in total shots, 4-2 on goal, and they had a 10-3 edge in corner kicks. The Red Dragons were called offsides nine times throughout the match compared to the Hawks' two.
In the SUNYAC standings, the team is currently tied with New Paltz at 14 points as the four and five seeds, and they are both two points behind Plattsburgh for the three seed. There are two ways for the Red Dragons to host a match in the first round of the SUNYAC tournament. The first is they win against Morrisville and have either Plattsburgh lose against Buffalo State, or New Paltz tie or lose against Canton. The other way is if Oneonta ties Morrisville and New Paltz loses to Canton.
Oneonta will honor their seniors for Senior Day in their regular season finale against Morrisville on Saturday, October 25, starting at 1 pm at Red Dragon Field.
