ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta field hockey team heads down to New Paltz for a SUNYAC semifinal matchup against No. 5 nationally ranked Salisbury on Friday, November 7, at 11 am on South Turf Field. General admission ticket sales are $7 for adults, $5 for ages 5-17, and free for any SUNYAC students with ID. Payment for tickets is cash only and can be made at the ticketing table at the front entrance gate. Gate opens for the match at 10 am.

Oneonta enters the contest 9-7 overall with a 2-3 SUNYAC record that earned them the fourth seed in the conference tournament. Salisbury heads into the SUNYAC tournament as the top seed after posting a 5-0 conference record as they went 15-2 overall. Both of their losses came to the No. 1 nationally ranked Christopher Newport and No. 2 ranked John Hopkins.

The last time these two teams met one another was on October 18, when Salisbury defeated Oneonta, 7-0. Marli McDorman and Kaitlyn DeModna both recorded two goals and an assist in the contest for the Seagulls. Senior Maura Leib (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) finished the game with a career-high 23 saves for the Red Dragons.

Oneonta has kept it consistent with their lineup the whole season and have started the same 11 athletes for all 16 games. Senior Molly Miller (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), junior Alexandra Howell (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East), and sophomore Nina Contrera (Rochester, NY/Hilton Central) run it up top as the forwards with junior Abigail Draper (Remsen, NY/Holland Patent), sophomores Nora Trimarchi (South Glens Falls, N.Y./South Glens Falls), Marissa Stephan (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville), and freshman Isabella Cunha (Carle Place, NY/Carle Place) at midfield, and graduate student Caitlyn Caulfield (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland), senior Gabby Alfinito (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) and junior Sarah Stadelmann (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) stay back as the defenders with Leib guarding the cage.

The Red Dragons had eight different players score multiple goals and 13 players record a point this season, but their offense was mainly powered by Howell. The junior leads the team and is second in the SUNYAC in goals (11), assists (10), points (32), and game-winning goals (3). Howell is 17th in Division-III in assists per game (0.62), and she is tied for 41st in D-III, in points per game (2.00).

Contrera is second on the team and tied for ninth in the conference with seven goals while adding an assist for 15 points, which is 12th in the league. Miller and Caulfield are both tied for 14th in the SUNYAC in goals and points, as they each have totaled five goals and three assists for 13 points. Miller has also scored two game-winners, while Caulfield has recorded two penalty stroke goals and a game-winner.

Draper has the team-high seven assists, tied for the third-most in the conference, and scored a goal for nine points. She also leads the Red Dragons and is tied for fourth in the league with three defensive saves. Caulfield and Stadelmann have also registered a defensive save.

Leib leads all the goalies in the conference with Division-III's eighth-best save percentage (.854). She also co-leads the conference with five shutouts and is second in total saves (152), while posting a 1.58 goals-against average.

On the other side of the field, Salisbury is led by McDorman, Morgan Bradford, McKenna Horner, and DeModna. McDorman leads the SUNYAC with 35 points off 14 goals and seven assists, while Horner has totaled 11 goals and three assists for 25 points, the fourth-most in the conference. Bradford and DeModna have both recorded eight goals and three assists for 19 points.

In the cage for the Seagulls is Kelly Davis. Davis has 35 saves in 17 games for a .795 save percentage, and has only allowed nine goals for a 0.62 goals-against average. In five conference games, Davis has saved all five shots she has faced.

The winner of this match will play the winner of the other SUNYAC semifinal match between New Paltz and Cortland on Saturday, November 8, at 12 pm in New Paltz.