ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's lacrosse team shutout Morrisville for the first 22 minutes of play en route to a 19-5 SUNYAC victory, Saturday afternoon on Red Dragon Field. Sophomore
Thomas Hnis (Smithtown, N.Y./Kings Park) finished with the game-high nine points off seven goals and two assists. The win improved the Red Dragons to 7-8 on the season, 4-1 in the SUNYAC, and dropped the Mustangs to 1-9 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Junior
Jamie O'Neil (Bath, N.Y./Haverling) ended the game with four goals and three assists for seven points and became the fourth Red Dragon in program history to record 200 career points. O'Neil (currently at 200 points) joined Brian Dolley '00 (276), Matt Puerta '02 (275), and Bill Tremont '99 (213) in the Oneonta's men's lacrosse 200-point club.
During the day, Oneonta recognized and celebrated the careers of their eight seniors for Senior Day. The Red Dragons honored were
Stephen Barikyan (Tappan/Tappan Zee),
Brett Deegan (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue),
Vincent Herbstman (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue),
Matthew Mangels (St. James/Smithtown East),
Anthony Munro (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford),
Gavin Teiner (East Northport, N.Y./Northport),
Vincent Tirino (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue), and
Dashawn Trotman (Brentwood/Brentwood).
Oneonta pulled away with the game with seven goals in the first period while they kept Morrisville scoreless. Hnis netted four goals in the quarter while O'Neil, graduate student
Matthew Krieg (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue), and sophomore
Finn Morris (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) scored the other three goals.
The Mustangs scored their first goal with 6:56 left in the second period and again with three minutes to play in the half, while the Red Dragons recorded four goals throughout the quarter to take an 11-2 lead at the break. O'Neil scored his second of the game then found Hnis for a low shot past the keeper's ankles for a goal. Herbstman fired a goal in off a pass from Hnis, then with nine seconds remaining, junior
Aidan Greene (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) caused a turnover and brought the ball down into the attack zone and dished it to Hnis who was in front of the net for the goal.
O'Neil hit the back of the net twice before Hnis recorded his 51st goal of the season to put the Red Dragons up 14-2 at 5:40 in the third period. Morrisville scored three straight goals to pull themselves within nine with 11:30 to go, then Oneonta closed out the game with five unanswered for the 19-5 final.
O'Neil hit the 200-point milestone after he caused a turnover, picked up the ground ball and found Krieg for his 17th goal of the season. Mangels went the length of the field with the ball and rifled in his second goal of the year. Junior
Daniel Macchiarella (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) was assisted by Tirino on a man-up goal. Junior
Jason Monopoli (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) recorded his first career goal as a Red Dragon with 4:22 left when he got the ball behind the net, ran out towards the side and ripped it into a tight window between two Mustang defenders for the goal. Freshman
Cody Sharp (Burnt Hills Ballston Lake, N.Y./Burnt Hills Ballston Lake) scored the final goal of the game after Monopoli caused a turnover on the Morrisville goalie and Sharp collected the ground ball for an open shot on net.
Macchiarella finished the game with a goal and two assists, while Krieg scored twice. Barikyan finished 16-for-23 on faceoffs and collected the game-high nine ground balls.
Freshman
Mark Restivo (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) finished the game with 11 saves for a .688 save percentage. Junior
Ryan Collins (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) was in goal for the final 5:52 and stopped all three shots he faced.
The Red Dragons outshot the Mustangs 50-29, 34-19 on target, won 19 of 27 faceoffs, and had a 38-27 advantage in ground balls. Oneonta was 20-for-23 on clear attempts and 2-for-5 on extra man opportunities, while Morrisville went 19-for-26 on clears and was 0-for-2 on the man-up.
The Red Dragons are back in action on Wednesday, April 23, for a SUNYAC game against New Paltz on Red Dragon Field at 4 pm.
