ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Five different Red Dragons found the back of the net as the No. 24 nationally ranked Oneonta men's soccer team shutout Cobleskill, 5-0, in SUNYAC play on Wednesday afternoon at Red Dragon Field. Senior
Erik Popp (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) and freshman
Elias Curran (Rondout Valley, NY/Rondout Valley) both recorded a goal with an assist, while freshmen
Sean Griffin (Long Island, NY/Comsewogue) and
Sam Bienvenue (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) each scored their first career goals, and freshman
Klement Bujaj (Monroe, NY/Monroe Woodbury) had an assist for his first career point. The win improved the Red Dragons to 10-0-2 in the season, 4-0-1 in the SUNYAC, while the Tigers dropped to 1-8-3 overall and 0-4-1 in conference play.
"We started fast and managed to go up early," said Head Coach
Iain Byrne. "That made for a comfortable afternoon."
Oneonta jumped out to a 2-nil lead within the first eight minutes of play. Curran netted the first goal in the fifth minute when he got a centering pass from junior
Nico Loaiza (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) into the middle of the box and lasered the ball into the left side of the net for his second goal of the season. The Red Dragon freshman then received another centering pass from Loaiza in the eighth minute and passed it on his first touch to the left side of the goal area for graduate student
Iyare Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston) to finish off the play and score his fifth goal of the season.
Griffin extended the Red Dragons lead to three in the 28th minute with his first collegiate score. Popp gained possession of the ball on the right side of the field and played it into the box. Senior
Imari Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston) redirected Popp's pass towards Griffin, who fired a shot from 10 yards out into the right side of the goal.
Before halftime, Popp scored his first goal of the season to give Oneonta a 4-0 advantage. The Cobleskill goalie attempted to punch out the ball, but Popp kept it inside the 18-yard box by fending off a defender for possession, then he blasted a shot between two defenders into the right upper 90 from 15 yards out.
In the 73rd minute, Bienvenue scored his first goal as a Red Dragon off Bujaj's first career assist for the 5-0 final. Bujaj got the ball on the left side of the field and made a quick cut by his defender to enter the side of the penalty area. He centered the ball towards the top of the goal area, where Bienvenue lined himself up and redirected the ball into the open right side of the net.
Sophomore
Nico Osorio (Valley Stream, NY/St. Dominick's) started the first 34:34 in net for Oneonta and recorded one save in the 18th minute. Freshman
Cole Lawrence (Commack, NY/St. Anthony's) manned the net for 25:06, and sophomore
Matthew Rosen (Howard Beach, NY/Robert Goddard) was keeper for the final 30:20 and made one save in the 84th.
Sean Hanrahan started in net for Cobleskill and made three saves. Nate Harrington was the Tigers goalie for the second half and totaled four saves.
The Red Dragons outshot the Tigers 40-3 in total shots, 13-2 in shots on target, and they finished with an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Oneonta is on the road for their next match on Saturday, October 17, to take on Buffalo State in SUNYAC play at 1 pm.Â
