Oneonta Men’s Soccer Advances to SUNYAC Finals off Penalty Kicks Against No. 9 Cortland

CORTLAND, N.Y. -- The Oneonta men's soccer team survived their SUNYAC tournament semifinal bout and advanced past No. 9 nationally ranked Cortland in penalty kicks to move on to the conference finals, Wednesday afternoon. Oneonta built a three-goal lead by the 32nd minute, then they suffered a setback with a red card before the end of the first half, and Cortland was able to tie the game by the 68th with the man-up advantage. Neither team could score in extra time, so the Red Dragon battle went into PKs where Oneonta won, 4-3, and moved on to the SUNYAC Finals.
  Senior Luigi Prosperi (Lynbrook, N.Y./Lynbrook) led the team and scored a brace, while freshman Noah Hechler (Somers, NY/Somers) recorded his first collegiate goal. Freshman Nico Osorio (Valley Stream, NY/St. Dominick's) entered the game in the 39th minute following the red card and he finished with four saves and made a critical stop in penalty kicks to help Oneonta advance.
  Oneonta will compete for a shot at the program's 13th SUNYAC Championship on Saturday, November 8, at Buffalo State. Buffalo State defeated Fredonia in the other conference semifinal match, 2-0.

"At 3-0, we were cruising and then a mistake out of nothing, and we let them back in the game," head coach Iain Byrne commented. "We showed resiliency with 10 players to get to penalties and had a couple of cool customers to send us through to the final."

The match was a tale of three different stories. Oneonta's command and dominance in the first 35 minutes, Cortland's fortune and poise from the 36th to the 70th, then the heart-racing, nerve-racking finale.

Similar to their regular season match, Oneonta had the advantage over Cortland as they controlled possession and registered three shots on net within the first 15 minutes of play. Oneonta kept pressuring Cortland's goalkeeper, Jordan Ott, and finally broke him down with three goals between the 21st and 32nd minutes. Ott entered the game with only five goals allowed all season.

The scoreless tie was broken in the 21st minute when senior Zach Rabadi (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) had a free kick that was punched out of the penalty box and eventually passed back to him for a shot from 35 yards out. Rabadi's shot hit the crossbar and looked to have crossed the goal line when it hit the ground, however the refs did not call it, so Prosperi came sprinting in for the finish and headed the ball for the score.
  Oneonta made it 2-0 shortly after in the 25th minute. Cintron fired the ball over every player's head on a free kick, and it bounced deep into Cortland's territory. Senior Sam Rogers (Broadalbin, N.Y./Broadalbin-Perth) got to the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and delivered a low centering pass on his second touch to Prosperi, who was in front of the net and shot it over Ott for his fifth goal of the season. The visiting Red Dragons turned it into a 3-nil match in the 32nd minute when Hechler netted his first career goal off senior Milton Mancias Magana's (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) corner kick. Mancias Magana took the corner and placed it directly at the top of the six-yard box, where Hechler leaped over a couple of players from each team and headed the ball into the left side of the net.
  Oneonta's momentum came to a standstill in the 39th minute when Cintron was given a red card for a handball, as he was outside of the 18-yard box when the contact happened, forcing Oneonta to play a man-down for the remainder of the match, and Osorio had to replace Cintron in net. Cortland scored on the immediate free kick after Cintron's red in the 39th, then they made it a one-goal game before halftime when Jake Hutter rebounded a blocked shot in the 43rd minute.

Osorio began to get comfortable in the net and made a couple saves in the second half, however Cortland managed to tie the game in the 68th minute. After Osorio saved Josh Carroll's shot, the ball bounced off the crossbar and in front of Sebastian Olego for the score off the rebound.

After Cortland's game-tying score, each team recorded one more shot on goal in the final 20 minutes of regulation, but neither found the back of the net and the match went into overtime. Osorio made a critical save on Dylan Pederson's shot directly in front of the net in the 77th minute, while Ott caught junior Derek Jaramillo's (Mahopac, NY/Lakeland) shot from outside the box in the 87th minute before the match went into extras.

The first overtime period was quiet on both sides as Rogers had the only shot on goal in the 95th minute and it was saved by Ott.

Cortland had a couple of chances in the second overtime period, yet came up empty each time. Hutter had a chance in the 105th with a shot from 10 yards out inside the right side of the box, but Osorio batted the ball into the air and corralled it for the save. With 50 seconds left in the period, Carroll took a shot from the corner of the goal area, and it went underneath a leaping Osorio towards the net. Fortunately, junior Adrian Matute (Islip, N.Y./Islip) was there to back up Osorio as he kicked the ball out of play, and the match went into penalty kicks.

Osorio started to show his confidence before the start of the PKs, and backed it up with a key save on Carroll's PK, the first PK attempt for Cortland. After Oneonta missed their first penalty kick, both teams made their respective second attempt off the legs of sophomore Nico Loaiza (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) and Nolan Weik.
  Cortland missed the net wide left on their third penalty kick, which allowed senior Dillon Kelly (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Beacon), Rogers, and sophomore Tommy Kliampas (South Huntington, NY/Walt Whitman) to close out the game with three straight makes, and advance Oneonta to the conference finals. Kelly went to the right side on his PK as Ott guessed the opposite, Rogers netted the ball on the right side before the Cortland keeper could get to it, then Kliampas went tactical and kicked his into the center of the net while Ott dove for the right side. 
  Rabadi, Rogers, Cintron, and Mancias Magana all recorded an assist in the win. Cintron recorded one save and kept the net empty for the first 38:14, while Osorio finished with his four saves and PK stop in 71:46. Ott ended with five saves for Cortland.

Oneonta had their defensive backline of senior Braeden Morrison (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon), Kelly, Matute, and Hechler, as well as junior midfielder Imari Harris (Kingston, NY/Kingston), log all 110 minutes of play in the match.

Cortland outshot Oneonta 26-18 in total shots, 9-8 in shots on goal, and Oneonta held an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks.

Oneonta travels to Buffalo State for the SUNYAC Finals on Saturday, November 8, for a start time to be determined.