OSWEGO, N.Y. – The SUNY Oneonta field hockey team earned a 2-0 SUNYAC victory over Oswego State to end the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Oswego, New York. With the shutout win, Oneonta improves to 9-7 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while Oswego dropped to 6-11 this season and 1-3 in the SUNYAC. Oneonta clinched the two seed in the SUNYAC and earned hosting rights for the conference tournament on November 6-7.
"We took care of business today!" Head Coach
Kelly Kingsbury exclaimed. "We played composed and got the job done. Ali had two beautiful goals off of good ball patterns!"
After a scoreless first quarter, the Red Dragons broke through in the second. Senior
Alexandra Howell (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) opened the scoring at 24:54, finding the back of the cage off an assist from junior
Nora Trimarchi (South Glens Falls, N.Y./South Glens Falls) to give Oneonta a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Oneonta continued to control the game in the third quarter. Howell scored her second goal of the afternoon off a pass from sophomore
Isabella Cunha (Carle Place, NY/Carle Place) at 42:52, extending the Red Dragons' lead to 2-0. Howell finished with two goals on five shots, including four shots on goal. The Oneonta captain's second goal was her 20th of the season, which made her the sixth player in program history to score 20 goals in a single season.
The Oneonta defense held strong throughout the fourth quarter, keeping Oswego off the scoreboard to secure the shutout. Freshman goalkeeper
Eva Klessel (Bronxville, NY/Bronxville) recorded three saves in the victory for her second career shutout.
The Red Dragons outshot the Lakers 17-4 and earned eight penalty corners compared to Oswego's one. Senior
Sarah Stadelmann (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) recorded four shots, while Cunha added four shots. Cunha and Trimarchi each contributed an assist.
Coach Kingsbury concluded by saying, "I'm super proud of them handling the pressure and getting the W so we can host the championships next weekend!"
Oneonta will host the SUNYAC Field Hockey Tournament on Friday and Saturday, November 6-7. The first semifinal game to be played on Friday will be between top-seeded Salisbury and fourth seeded Oswego at 1 pm. The other semifinal match is a Battle of the Red Dragons edition between two seeded Oneonta and Cortland the three seed, and will take place at 3 pm. The winners of each semifinal match will compete in the conference championship on Saturday at 1 pm.
