ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's soccer team fired off three straight goals in the first half en route to a 3-1 victory over Hood College on the first day of the Mayor's Cup, Saturday afternoon at Red Dragon Field. Senior
Imari Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston) finished the game with a brace and freshman
Yacouba Bamba (Harlem, NY/Success Academy High School of Liberal Arts) scored his first collegiate goal. The win improved the Red Dragons to 2-0 this season while the Blazers dropped to 1-1 overall.
"We were dangerous going forward and created chances," Head Coach
Iain Byrne commented. "It was similar for Hood College, who gave us a few scares, and could quite easily have conveyed a few goals themselves."
Bamba recorded Oneonta's first goal of the game in the 16th minute. Deep in the attacking third, Harris had the ball on the side of the penalty box when he sent a pass that ricocheted off a Hood defender. The ball bounced towards the top of the box to Bamba, who touched the ball to the left side then ripped in a shot into the lower left side of the net.
Shortly after the Red Dragon freshman's goal, Harris netted his first goal of the game to make it 2-nil in the 20th minute. Oneonta changed their point of attack and got the ball to senior
Erik Popp (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay). Popp sprinted with the ball towards the penalty box when he had a group of Blazer defenders close in on him. The ball got away from Popp and bounced between a few players until Harris gained control and fired in a low shot from 15 yards out for the goal.
Harris kept Oneonta's momentum going at the start of the second half with his second goal for a 3-0 score in the 47th. Bamba passed the ball out to graduate student
Zach Rabadi (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay), and he sent it over towards graduate student
Milton Mancias Magana (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) at the top corner of the 18-yard box. Mancias Magana was able to get a step on his defender and crossed it towards the front of the net, where Harris was left wide open to knock the ball in.Â
Hood's lone goal came off a penalty kick from Daurin Rivera in the final minute of regulation.
Senior
James Cintron (Poughkeepsie, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) finished the game with five saves in 81:05 of play. Cintron made a remarkable stop in the 27th minute when he had Jonathan Fuentes receive the ball near the six-yard box for the open shot, and the senior keeper made the save. Fuentes got the rebound from his first shot, but he sailed his second shot and hit the crossbar.
Sophomore
Nico Osorio (Valley Stream, NY/St. Dominick's) played the final 8:55 in net for the Red Dragons.
Adam Lambows finished with four saves for Hood.
Oneonta finished with a 7-6 advantage in shots on target and a 7-5 edge in corner kicks.
Oneonta is back on the pitch on Sunday, September 6, for the final day of the Mayor's Cup. The Red Dragons will play King's College (Pa.) at 3 pm at Red Dragon Field.
