SUNY Oneonta Athletics

ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta field hockey team fell to No. 16 ranked Cortland in the SUNYAC Field Hockey Semifinals, Friday afternoon at All College Field. Cortland scored both of their goals within a minute of each other in the second period, with the second happening while Oneonta was serving a controversial yellow card. With the result, Cortland advanced and will face No. 7 Salisbury in the conference finals. Salisbury defeated Oswego in the other semifinal match, 7-0.  

"I'm proud of the composure we showed today," said Head Coach Kelly Kingsbury when asked about the game. "We played hard and with passion today, and I couldn't be prouder of this group as a whole." 

Cortland's first goal was scored by Olivia Specht at 21:11. After the goal happened, senior Sarah Stadelmann (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) grabbed the ball and tossed it out of the cage. It looked to have hit a Cortland player, and after video review, the officials gave Stadelmann a yellow card. Cortland recorded their second goal nearly a minute later at 22:14, when Tori Peterson scored off an assist from Kaylee Hughen.  

Oneonta had a few chances to hit the back of the cage but came up empty each time. Before Cortland scored, junior Julia Murphy (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) took the first shot on goal for Oneonta and had it saved. With five minutes remaining in the first half, Oneonta had a penalty corner and got the ball to senior Alexandra Howell (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) for a shot that was defensively saved by Adrienne Mayes. Senior Abigail Draper (Remsen, NY/Holland Patent) recorded Oneonta's last chance to get on the board at the start of the fourth period and was stopped by Cortland's keeper.  

Freshman Eva Klessel (Bronxville, NY/Bronxville) finished the game with 11 saves, the second most she has recorded this season.  

Sofia Cannistraci recorded two saves for Cortland, while Mayes had a defensive save. 

Cortland outshot Oneonta 19-3 in total shots, 13-3 with shots on goal, and finished with an 11-2 advantage in penalty corners.  

Before the start of the match, Oneonta junior Marissa Stephan (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) was named the SUNYAC Field Hockey Elite 20 winner.   The SUNYAC Elite 20 Award recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the conference championship level in their sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers. The award is presented to the student athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the SUNYAC's Championships. 

Oneonta finished the season with an overall record of 9-8, while they went 3-1 in SUNYAC play to earn hosting rights for the conference tournament.  Read Full Article