Women’s Basketball (19-9/14-4)
Mar. 2nd at King’s College, L 42-56 (NCAA Tournament First Round)
The Oneonta State women's basketball teams NCAA run came to a halt last Friday night as they fell to host King's College 56-42 in the opening round. This was the Red Dragons first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2001 after winning the SUNYAC championship.
Both teams played a solid defensive game as they have all year long and, in the end, it was Oneonta that came out on the short end, shooting a season low 26 percent from the floor including 2-of-19 from long range.
“The shots just didn't drop for us tonight, but we were still in the game” said Oneonta coach
Daphne Thompson. “We were getting the shots we normally get in our offense. Our defense kept us in the game.”
The senior duo of
Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills/New York Mills) and
Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic) each reached double figures in their final games in a Red Dragon uniform. Slagle was tops with 13 points while Szkotak had 11 points. Both players had eight rebounds each to lead Oneonta.
Oneonta trailed the entire game, but made a run in the second half to cut King's lead to eight points at 39-31 on a Slagle jumper at the 7:07 mark.
“I knew we would make a run,” commented Thompson. “We just didn't have any luck tonight.”
King's quickly got the lead back to double digits they drained a three less than one minute later. The Red Dragons continued to battle and kept its deficit at eight points on a steal and lay-up by junior
Kate Wilverding (Manalapan, NJ/St. John Vianney) with 3:09 remaining in the contest.
Any chance at coming all the way back was squelched with just over one minute to go when the Monarchs sealed the deal with a jumper and a steal for a lay-up that put the score at 54-39.
After a couple of scoreless minutes to begin the contest, King's got on the scoreboard first with a three-pointer at 17:59. The three was followed by a lay-up Michaels to give the Monarchs an early 5-0 lead.
Sophomore
Kelly Mulligan (Pearl River/Pearl River) got Oneonta on the board by making 1-of-2 free throws at 16:55. The Red Dragons didn't convert its first field goal of the half until a steal and lay-up by
Alyshia Crawford (Oxford/Oxford) at the 13:17 that made the score 11-3 in favor of King's. A lay-up by
Grace Schilling (Northport/Northport) and a three-pointer by Szkotak capped seven unanswered by Oneonta to cut the lead back to 11-8 at the 10:39 mark.
King's countered with seven straight points to get their lead back to 10 points at 18-8. The Monarchs capped the run with a jumper just inside the arc. King's went into halftime with a 24-13 lead.
Thompson concluded, “I'm disappointed for the players. They had a tremendous season and they are SUNYAC champions. I enjoyed each player on this team and I want to thank them for their commitment.”
Men’s Track & Field
Mar. 2nd and 3rd at ECAC Championships, 18th place with 17 points
The Oneonta State track & field team competed this past weekend at the ECAC championships held at the New York Armory.
The men scored 17 points and tied for 18th place overall. Two individuals placed in the top-8 while two school records fell. There were also two personal best performances turned in by two individuals.
Junior
Sean Bernstein (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) was Oneonta's highest place finisher in the meet. Currently 9th in Div. III in the 60-meter dash he was looking to improve his time on the national performance list prior to next weekend. In finishing second in the event, he equaled his best time in the event, running a 6.91.
Bernstein also ran the lead off leg for the 4x400-meter relay that did improve its time in the event by over one-half second. The foursome entered this weekend with the 9th fastest time in Div. III and surely helped their cause to get to Iowa next weekend with a time of 3:18.58.
The other three legs of the relay were seniors
Sean Wren (Delanson/Duanesburg) and
Jesse Dobson (Farmingville/Sachem East) along with freshman
Rob Farrell (Carmel/Mahopac).
Oneonta's only other top-8 individual performance in the two-day event was by junior
John Longo (Endwell/Maine-Endwell), who set a school record in placing 6th in the 3,000-meter run. Longo crossed the finish line in 8:35.15 eclipsing the old mark of 8:39.94 set at the Armory just three weeks ago by classmate
Chris Harvey (Kings Park/Kings Park).
Oneonta's other school record came in the 4x800-meter relay with the foursome of junior
Nate Weber (LaFayette/Tully), sophomore
Tom Haskins (Tully/Tully) and rookies
Bobby Gallant (Scotia/Scotia-Glenville) and
David Bohunicky (Johnson City/Maine-Endwell). The four clocked a time of 7:56.19 in the event, breaking the record of 7:59.35 set back in 2008 at the Armory.
Women’s Track & Field
Mar. 2nd and 3rd at ECAC Championships, 37th place with 5 points
The Oneonta State track & field team competed this past weekend at the ECAC championships held at the New York Armory.
The women finished tied for 37th place overall with five points at this year's championships. The Red Dragons had two top-8 performers and three individuals run personal best times in individual events.
Senior
Sarah Timmons (Schodack/Maple Hill) was the top overall finisher for Oneonta with her 5th place finish in the 20-lb. weight throw. Timmons entered the meet with the second longest throw in Div. III and will definitely be on her way to Grinnell next weekend.
Taking 8th place in the 800-meter run was senior
Lauren Brunetto (Fishkill/Beacon), who was looking to improve on her 17th fastest time in Div. III in the event. She crossed the line in a time of 2:16.88, which was slightly slower than her best time this season, so she will have to wait and see who declares for this event nationally to see if she will be going to Iowa next weekend.
Recording personal best times for the women in the meet were sophomore
Kaitlyn Brandt (West Islip/West Islip) and freshmen
Jaclyn Masucci (Staten Island/St. Joseph by-the-Sea) and
Brianna McLoughlin (Yonkers/School of the Holy Child). Brandt ran a PR of 26.63 in finishing 23rd in the 200-meter dash. Masucci ran a personal best time of 3:08.51 in the 1,000-meter run. McLoughlin ran a huge PR in the 3,000 (10:31.94), which was 40 seconds better than her previous mark of 11:12.31.
Men’s Lacrosse (0-2/0-0)
Mar. 3rd vs. Clarkson, L 9-16
The Oneonta State men's lacrosse team opened its 2012 season at home last Saturday, but came up on the short end of a 16-9 score to visiting Clarkson. Sophomore
Daniel Stern (Shoreham/Shoreham-Wading River) led the Red Dragon attack with three goals.
Statistically, the game was as equal as could be. Oneonta outshot Clarkson 42-41 and each team won 14 face offs. Clarkson held a slight 36-33 advantage in ground balls and were successful on 20-of-22 clears. Oneonta was 13-for-17 on clears in the game and both teams were 0-4 on the extra man situations.
The Golden Knights led 4-0 after one period.
The two teams played an even second period with each team scoring three goals. Oneonta had three different players tally in the stanza.
The two teams combined for nine goals in the third period. Clarkson extended its lead to 13-6 at the end of the period after outscoring the Red Dragons 6-3. Stern scored his first two goals in the period to lead Oneonta.
The two teams each registered three goals in the fourth period for the final.
Oneonta goalie
Chris Miles (Manlius/Fayetteville Manlius) made 16 saves.
Mar. 7th vs. Union (#12), L 6-19
The Oneonta State men's lacrosse team played even through most of the first half, but in the second half, No. 12 Union College pulled away en route to a 19-6 win on the road last Wednesday afternoon. Oneonta trailed just 8-5 at halftime before Union put the clamps on the Red Dragons attack to the tune of 11-1 in the second half.
Junior
Jimmy van de Veerdonk (Putnam Valley/Putnam Valley) led Oneonta with four goals on the afternoon. He also won 16-of-22 face offs as the Red Dragons won 20-of-28 for the game. Unfortunately, the Red Dragons turned the ball over 30 times, which cost them too many possessions.
Union got started with the game's first goal at 12:58. Van de Veerdonk answered less than five seconds later with his first goal of the game after winning the face off.
Union then scored three unanswered as they jumped to a 4-1 lead.
The Red Dragons came back to tie the score at 4 apiece with three straight goals of their own. Sophomore
Joey Finnegan (West Islip/West Islip), junior
Tyler Jennings (Brewerton/Central Square) and van de Veerdonk each scored for Oneonta.
A late goal gave Union a 5-4 lead at the end of the first stanza.
Back-to-back goals to begin the second period extended Union's lead to 7-4. A van de Veerdonk goal brought Oneonta closer at 7-5, but with seven seconds left the Dutchmen scored to give them an 8-5 lead at halftime.
After van de Veerdonk scored the opening goal of the third period, Union shut out the Red Dragons the rest of the way while adding 11 goals.
Oneonta goalie
Miles took the loss in goal, but made 15 stops.
Women’s Lacrosse (1-0/0-0)
Mar. 6th vs. Roberts Wesleyan, W 17-4
The Oneonta State women's lacrosse team opened the 2012 season in a huge way last Tuesday by dominating visiting Roberts Wesleyan 17-4. The Red Dragons had three players register three goals including two newcomers to this year's squad.
Senior
Rebecca Monteith (West Islip/West Islip) along with freshmen
Kiera McNally (East Northport/Northport) and
Nicole Fioretti (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) each tallied three goals to lead the attack on the afternoon. The Red Dragons outshot the Raiders, who were playing their first game as a varsity program on their way to NCAA Div. II, 30-15. McNally and Monteith both added two assists to finish the game with five points.
McNally didn't waste any time in collecting her first collegiate goal as she scored just 21 seconds into the contest. After the Raiders tied the game, Oneonta ran off 10 unanswered goals to head into halftime with a comfortable 11-1 lead.
Oneonta controlled the clock and the possession time in the second half of play en route to the lopsided victory.
Senior
Annelise Muscietta (Lindenhurst/Walter O'Connell Copiague) picked up the win in goal for Oneonta, making four stops and allowing just a single goal.
