ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's soccer team's home opener resulted in a 1-1 draw against Skidmore College, Monday evening on Red Dragon Field. The Red Dragons fell behind off an own goal, then senior
Luigi Prosperi (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) netted the equalizer off an assist from senior
Sam Rogers (Broadalbin, N.Y./Broadalbin-Perth) in the second half. The result moved both the Red Dragons and Thoroughbreds to 1-0-1 on the season.
"It was a really disappointing performance from us," head coach
Iain Byrne stated. "We picked it up in the second half, but we were nowhere near the level we need to get to."
Skidmore's goal came in the 27th minute when they started to move the ball down the field and passed it inside the box to Colin Goodhines. Goodhines tried to pass it one more time to a teammate in front of the net, however a Red Dragon defender got in between the pass and redirected it into the net.
Following the mishap, Oneonta started to control more of the match and eventually found the back of the net in the 59th minute. Senior
Iyare Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston) received the ball off a throw in and sent a pass to the top of the penalty area to Prosperi. Prosperi battled for possession and got the ball to roll towards Rogers near the endline. Rogers sent the ball back to Prosperi in front of the goal area where the senior striker snuck the ball into the lower right corner of the net past the Thoroughbred keeper.
After the game-tying goal, Skidmore recorded the last shot on target in the 64th minute, but it was easily stopped by junior
James Cintron (Poughkeepsie, NY/Roy C. Ketcham).
Cintron finished with six saves, including four in the second half, for Oneonta and Will Devall had five saves for Skidmore.
Both teams recorded nine shots, while Oneonta had a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The Red Dragons are back in action for Mayor's Cup weekend on September 6 and 7. Oneonta will play King's College on Saturday, then UMass Boston on Sunday. Both contests are scheduled to start at 2:30 pm. The Oneonta women's team will kick off each day at noon with Skidmore as their first opponent on Saturday then RPI on Sunday.
