ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's lacrosse team was tripped up in the Battle of the Red Dragons SUNYAC contest against Cortland, 20-7, Saturday afternoon at Red Dragon Field. Oneonta trailed 11-5 heading into halftime, then Cortland used the second half to outscore them 9-2 for the final. The result moved Oneonta's record to 6-7 this season, 3-1 in the SUNYAC, while Cortland improved to 8-5 overall and 4-0 in conference play.
Junior
Aidan Boyle (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) led Oneonta with three goals for a hat trick and three points. Seniors
Daniel Macchiarella (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland),
Jamie O'Neil (Bath, N.Y./Haverling), and junior
Thomas Hnis (Smithtown, N.Y./Kings Park) all recorded a goal and an assist for two points.
"Tough game," said Head Coach
Pete Owens. "We still control our destiny in the league, all eyes on Saturday now."
Cortland went up 5-0 before Boyle scored Oneonta's first goal at 7:27. Cortland recorded another goal, then Macchiarella fired in his seventh goal of the season off a pass from O'Neil to end the opening quarter trailing 6-2.
Oneonta made it a three-goal game at 12:49 in the second period when senior
Finn Morris (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) found Boyle for his second goal of the day. Cortland responded with three straight goals to go up 9-3 at 9:16. Sophomore
Riley Royals (New Hyde Park, NY/Herricks) scored off a pass from Hnis, then Boyle recorded his hat trick and 18th goal of the season to pull Oneonta within four, but Cortland scored twice in the final three minutes of the half for an 11-5 advantage.
The visitors scored the first five goals of the third quarter to go ahead 16-5 at 5:12. With 3:19 left in the third, Hnis was on the right side of the attack zone and ran past his defender towards the center for a sidearm shot that beat the keeper for his SUNYAC-leading 51st goal of the season, as Oneonta went into the fourth down 16-6.
The first three goals of the fourth quarter were recorded by Cortland, who extended their lead to 19-6 with 6:35 left. O'Neil scored his 26th goal of the year off a pass from Macchiarella for Oneonta's final goal of the game with 5:10 remaining. Cortland added one more score with 3:33 to go.
Sophomore
Mark Restivo (Merrick, NY/Sanford H. Calhoun) finished with 13 saves for Oneonta. Junior
Johnny Terrana (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown East) caused three turnovers and picked up four ground balls. Sophomore
Sean Grimes (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Croton Harmon) was 7-for-15 on faceoffs, had four ground balls, and caused one turnover, while senior
Aidan Greene (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) and sophomore
Hunter Busch (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) both caused a turnover and collected four ground balls.
Cortland's Charlie Ralowski had 15 saves for a .714 save percentage. Cortland had three players finish with five points. Stefan Swedlund had five goals, Nick Stoecker had three goals with two assists, and Sean Kavanagh had two goals and three assists. Nicky Miltenberger was 13-for-17 on faceoffs and had five ground balls.
Oneonta is back home for their next game on Saturday, April 18, against Oswego in a SUNYAC clash starting at 1 pm on Red Dragon Field.
