Women’s Basketball (21-7/13-5)
Feb. 25 vs. New Paltz, W 71-66 (SUNYAC Semifinals)
The SUNY Oneonta women’s basketball team knocked off New Paltz last Friday 71-66 to advance to the championship game of the SUNYAC tournament at Geneseo.
Oneonta will be making its fifth SUNYAC championship game appearance and first since 2004. They are 2-2 in their previous four appearances including its 50-46 loss to Cortland in 2004. Geneseo and Oneonta met once previously in the 1998 final, a 69-60 win for Oneonta, which gave the Red Dragons its first SUNYAC title.
The difference in the night’s contest was Oneonta making 32 free throws to New Paltz’s 13. The Red Dragons were 32-of-44 from the line including 8-of-11 by senior Erika Puffer (Unadilla, Unatego). Puffer finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
The Red Dragons stormed out of halftime with an 11-0 run to break open a 27-22 score at the break. Back-to-back threes by senior Rebecca Bucci (Marlboro, Our Lady of Lourdes) and junior Madison Slagle (Rome, Rome Catholic) gave Oneonta a 34-22 lead.
New Paltz cut Oneonta’s lead to single digits, but the Red Dragons were able to maintain a five-to-eight point lead for the bulk of the second half. The Hawks put a late surge together and actually got as close as three points a couple of times in the final twenty seconds, but ran out of time.
The Red Dragons had five players in double figures led by freshman Kristin Pappalardo (Mahopac, Lakeland), who scored 16 points. Bucci finished with 14 points, Slagle had 11 points and junior Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills, New York Mills)added 13 points for Oneonta. Szkotak led all scorers in the first half with 10 points.
The game began with three runs that gave New Paltz an 18-7 lead at the 10:50 mark. The Hawks opened the contest with six straight points before Oneonta countered with seven unanswered to grab its first lead of the half. A three-pointer by Szkotak gave the Red Dragons the 7-6 lead.
Oneonta’s lead didn’t last long as New Paltz came back with 12 unanswered points while Oneonta went scoreless for five minutes. A jumper by senior Mary Kate O'Connell (Altamont, Guilderland)halted the run while putting an end to the drought and made the score 18-9 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.
Oneonta outscored New Paltz 18-4 over the final 10 minutes, which included no points for New Paltz over the final 5:17 of the half, which allowed the Red Dragons to take a 27-22 lead at the break.
Feb. 26 vs. Geneseo, L 48-55 (SUNYAC Championship)
Despite having three players in double figures last Saturday, the SUNY Oneonta women’s basketball team fell short in the SUNYAC championship game against Geneseo, 55-48. The Red Dragons are 21-7 overall and will wait until 3:00 p.m. on Monday to find out if they will be selected as a pool C team for this year’s NCAA tournament when the 64-team field is announced.
Oneonta was making its fifth championship game appearance and their first since 2004. They were hoping to capture their third conference title and first since 2001.
Oneonta trailed at halftime 24-22, but scored the first six points of the second half to regain the lead for the first time since the midway point of the first half. Junior Skotak hit back-to-back jumpers on successive trips and then senior O’Connell added a bucket to give the Red Dragons a 28-24 lead.
Geneseo battled back to tie the score at 30 apiece before senior Puffer made a layup and classmate Bucci buried a three to put Oneonta ahead again 35-30.
With 10 minutes to go in the game, the Red Dragons had a 36-35 lead before a basket that put the Blue Knights ahead to stay. An 8-1 spurt by Geneseo over a four minute stretch gave them its largest lead of the game at six points.
Oneonta continued to battle back and got as close as 50-48 with 1:13 to go on a layup by Puffer, but that’s as close as the Red Dragons would get the rest of the way.
Down the stretch, Geneseo made enough free throws and capitalized on some offensive rebounds that earned them extra possessions. The Blue Knights held a decided advantage on the boards today, 41-25, including 13-6 off the offensive glass. They also made 20-of-29 free throws to Oneonta’s 8-of-11.
Szkotak and O’Connell each finished the game with 12 points while Bucci added 11 points. Both Szkotak and Bucci were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
The first half saw four ties and two lead changes as both teams tried to settle into a rhythm. Geneseo led early 6-2 before ten unanswered points by Oneonta gave them a 12-6 lead. Back-to-back three-point field goals by Szkotak and Bucci gave the Red Dragons its largest lead of the first half.
Geneseo came back to tie the score at 12 apiece before Oneonta went back ahead 17-12 with 7:20 to go in the opening half. The hosts then put together a 12-2 run to go back ahead 24-19 before an old fashioned three-point play by sophomore Gabi Regan (Troy, Columbia)closed the gap back to 24-22. That’s where the score would stay as the two teams entered the break.
Women’s Track & Field
Feb. 26th at SUNYAC Championships, 4th place with 91 points
The Oneonta State Track and Field teams set their sights high coming into the SUNYAC championships and came away with multiple personal bests and NCAA provisional qualifying performances.
The Oneonta State women were led by their field event athletes as junior Sarah Timmons (Schodack, Maple Hill)and freshman Kori Hamm (Burlington Flats, Edmeston)hitting the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in their events.
Timmons, who was seeded second coming into the meet, destroyed her personal best and the field throwing the 20 lbs. weight 16.21 meters(53’2”) to take the championship and hitting the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Hamm hit the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the triple jump on her second attempt with a leap 11.29 meters (37’6”). Her leap was good enough for runner-up in the event. Earlier in the day she placed 8th in the long jump with a personal best of 5.00 meters (16”4”) scoring nine points for the Red Dragons on the day.
Teammate Michelle Chartrand (Boiceville, Onteora) also had top performances for Oneonta. In the long jump, her distance of 5.19 meters (17’1 ¾ “) was good enough for a third place finish and was a personal best while qualifying her for the ECAC championships. Later that day she hit another personal best in the triple jump with a leap of 10.99 meters (36’6”). She finished fifth and again qualified for the ECAC championships. She finished the day scoring 10 points for the Red Dragons.
The team’s high scorer was sophomore Kacy Boburka (Binghamton, Chenango Valley) with 18 points. She began the day capturing the high jump championship clearing a height of 1.61 meters (5’ 3 ¼”). She then moved her way to the women’s shot where she finished third with a throw of 11.48 meters(37”6 ½”). She finished the day at the women’s long jump leaping to a seventh place finish with a jump of 5.01(16”4 ¼”) meters.
On the track, the team was led by junior All-American Lauren Brunetto (Fishkill, Beacon). She started off the day with an 8th place finish in the mile with a time of 5:18.80. She came back an hour and a half later to successfully defend her SUNYAC title in the 800m run. Her time of 2:17.18 defeated the field by over two seconds on her way to qualifying for the ECAC championships. Brunetto showed her resilience, competing back-to-back in both the distance medley relay and the 4x400 meter relay. She first joined sophomore Carolyn Nasr (LaGrangeville, Arlington), junior Lacie Newland (Gloversville, Gloversville), and freshman Sarah Loret (Delanson, Duanesburg)anchoring the distance medley relay to a come from behind second place finish with a time of 13:04.97.
Directly after, Brunetto joined seniors Kristan Catanese (Baldwin, Kellenberg memorial), Kristen Stein (Gloversville, Gloversville), and Connie Belkevich (Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga) in the 4x400 meter relay. The group battled the field to finish second with an ECAC qualifying time of 4:03.55. Brunetto finished the day scoring a total of 15 points for the Red Dragons.
Stein, was another top performer for the women. She ran a personal best of 1:00.37 in the 400 meter dash placing 4th and scoring 7 points for the Red Dragons.
Men’s Track & Field
Feb. 26th at SUNYAC Championships, 7th place with 32 points
The men’s top performer was senior All-American Durell Cull (Rome, Rome Free Academy) with eight points for the Red Dragons. His second place finish with a time of 6.47 in the 55 meter dash was good enough to hit the NCAA provisional qualifying time.
Sophomore Dustin Cox (Pulaski, Pulaski) contributed to the team competing on and off the track. He started the day with a seventh place finish in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.23. He came back in the field to capture a third place finish in the men’s high jump with a leap of 1.92 meters (6’3”) scoring seven points for the men.
Freshman Tom Haskins (Tully, Tully) and junior Greg Humbert (Staten Island, Susan E Wagner) both placed sixth in their respective events. Haskins ran an ECAC qualifying time of 1:56.98 in the 800 meters while Humbert threw a personal best of 15.05(49’3 ¾”) meters in the 35 lbs. weight throw.
Junior Sean Wren (Delanson, Duanesburg)placed eighth in the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.12.
The highlight for the men came at the end of the meet in the running of the distance medley relay. The quartet of freshman John Longo (Endwell, Maine-Endwell), Wren, senior Sean Daly (Weedsport, Weedsport), and senior Nick Pampena (King's Park, King's Park) came away with a second place finish just behind Geneseo with an ECAC qualifying time of 10:33.89.
Wrestling
Feb. 26th at ECWC Championships, 6th place with 65 points
The SUNY Oneonta wrestling team concluded its 2010-11 season last Saturday with a sixth place finish at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference championships hosted by Ithaca College. The Red Dragons had eight wrestlers finish in the top-6 of their respective weight classes as they finished with 65 points.
Oneonta had three wrestlers advance to the championship semifinals of their respective weight classes including seniors Michael Gregg (Islip, Islip) andBrian Kramer (Hopkinton, MA, Hopkinton).
Gregg, seeded fourth at 141 lbs., won his opening match against the fifth seed before being defeated by top seeded Jeremy Stierly of Ithaca 16-4. Gregg won one more match in the consolation bracket before falling in the third place match to Mike Maurer of Lycoming 5-1 to finish fourth overall.
Kramer was seeded third at 184 lbs. and won his first match of the day against Wheeler Brunshmid of Morrisville, 2-1 in sudden victory. He then fell to the No. 2 seed, which pushed him into the consolation bracket. After a 7-0 loss in the semis of the consolation bracket, Kramer defeated David Manzuela of Brockport to finish fifth.
Freshman Dan Graff (LaGrangeville, Arlington) was the final Oneonta wrestler to advance to the semifinals of his weight class. Graff was seeded third at 149 lbs. and ended up finishing sixth overall when it was all over.
The final five place-winners for the Red Dragons were senior James Lamonica (Staten Island, Monsignor Farrell), junior Jimmy Neal (Glens Falls, Glens Falls), sophomore JP Sala (Islip, Islip) and freshmen Ben Mikac (Lackawanna, Williamsville East) and Derek Wignall (Deposit, Deposit).
Lamonica was seeded fifth and held his seed at 285 lbs. Neal was seeded fourth and finished fifth at 174 lbs. Sala was seeded seventh at 157 lbs. and finished fourth overall. Mikac and Wignall both held their seeds with a fifth and sixth place finish at 133 lbs. and 197 lbs. respectively.
Women’s Lacrosse (0-2/0-0)
Feb. 28th vs. York College, L 8-14 (in St. Croix)
The SUNY Oneonta women’s lacrosse team got three goals and one assist from sophomore Taylor Troyano (West Islip, West Islip), but fell to York College of Pennsylvania today in season-opening action 14-8. The Red Dragons will conclude its trip to St. Croix with a game against nationally ranked Mary Washington.
Oneonta jumped out to an early 2-1 lead on a pair of goals by sophomore Caroline Tulley (Malverne, Sacred Heart Academy). Her second goal came with an assist from junior Rebecca Monteith (West Islip, West Islip), who added a pair of goals on the day for three points.
The two teams exchanged goals for the remaining 23 minutes of the first half and the Red Dragons took a 6-5 lead into halftime.
Back-to-back goals in the first two minutes of the second half by Troyano gave Oneonta an 8-5 lead. Unfortunately, that would be the end of the scoring for the Red Dragons as York tallied nine unanswered goals en route to the 14-8 victory.
Junior Annelise Muscietta (Lindenhurst, Walter O'Connell Copiague) made seven saves in goal for the Red Dragons.
Mar. 1st vs. Mary Washington, L 11-14 (in St. Croix)
Junior Monteith scored four goals and added three assists, but the SUNY Oneonta women’s lacrosse team fell to nationally ranked Mary Washington in its final game of its spring trip. The Red Dragons fall to 0-2 in the early going while Mary Washington moves to 3-2.
Mary Washington jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first four minutes of the contest before back-to-back goals by sophomore Troyano and Monteith cut the lead in half.
After a goal by Mary Washington put them ahead by three goals, Oneonta stormed back to tie the score on three unanswered goals, including a pair by sophomore Tulley.
The two teams exchanged a pair of goals until two goals by Mary Washington in the final minute of the first half gave them a 9-7 lead at the break.
Back-to-back goals by Monteith and Troyano to open the second half brought Oneonta back to even at 9-9.
Mary Washington seized control of the game with five straight goals over a 15-minute stretch leaving Oneonta about 10 minutes to comeback. The Red Dragons managed only a pair of goals for the 14-11 final.
Troyano finished the game with three points, adding an assist to her two goals. Sophomore Jaclyn Martella (Dix Hills, Half Hollow Hills) was the final Red Dragon to collect three points, scoring one goal and adding two assists.
