September 6, 2013
Oneonta Mayor’s Cup Tournament set for this weekend
It’s that time of year again when college soccer takes center stage in the city of Oneonta, as the 2013 Mayor’s Cup Tournament gets underway Friday afternoon on the campus of SUNY Oneonta. The three-day event will conclude with games Sunday afternoon on both the Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta campus. All games are free and open to the public.
Men’s
Division III Tournament Preview
The men’s Division III tournament could be a preview of
this year’s NCAA tournament, as three of the four teams are
currently nationally ranked including SUNY Oneonta at No. 24 in
this week’s NSCAA Coaches Poll. The other two
ranked teams include No. 1 and defending Division III national
champion, Messiah College, and No. 9
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The fourth squad is Franklin
& Marshall, who comes to town 2-0 after the first weekend of
the season.
“I can’t imagine a better Division III men’s
tournament in the country this year,” said Oneonta head coach
Iain Byrne. “It is a testament to the reputation
and history of the Mayor’ Cup that we have been able to
attract National Champion Messiah, perennial power Franklin &
Marshall, and NCAA tournament regular Claremont, all the way from
Los Angeles, for this year’s tournament. I am sure that
soccer fans in Oneonta are in for a treat this weekend, and I would
like to say a special thanks to Vince Foti for his support in
putting together this year’s event.”
CMS will face F&M at 1pm on Friday on Red Dragon Soccer
Field to get things started followed by Oneonta versus Messiah at
4pm. Saturday, CMS will play Messiah at 1pm while
Oneonta will face F&M at 4pm.
Oneonta opened its season this past Saturday with a 1-0
victory in overtime at Ithaca College. Dylan Williams
netted the game-winner for the Red Dragons with an assist from
junior Justin Rivera.
Oneonta faced both Messiah and F&M last fall to open the
season, coming away with a 2-1 loss to F&M and a hard fought,
0-0 tie with Messiah. The tie was the only blemish on
the Falcons record on its way to its ninth national championship in
the last 13 years.
Both Messiah and F&M opened the season this past weekend
with a pair of wins against Utica College and
Medaille. Messiah defeated Utica 2-1 and Medaille 4-0
while F&M posted back-to-back, 2-0 shutouts against Medaille
and Utica.
CMS opened its season this past Saturday with a 3-1 win at
Westmont. CMS head coach, Dan Calichman, is in his
12th season after a twelve-year professional playing career.
He was captain and central defender for the Los Angeles Galaxy from
1996-1998 and was voted best Major League Soccer defender by USA
Today in 1996. He also played for two other MLS teams--the San Jose
Earthquakes and the New England Revolution. He played for the
United States National Team from 1997-1998 and was the first and
only American player to play in the J-League, Japan's professional
soccer league. He is one of the few professional players
to have advanced directly from a successful professional career to
Division III.
Women’s Division III
Tournament Preview
The women’s Division III tournament will feature SUNY
Oneonta and Hartwick along with visiting teams from RIT and John
Carroll University. Saturday’s games will be at
Hartwick College while Sunday’s games will be at SUNY
Oneonta. Oneonta will take on RIT on Saturday beginning
at 1pm followed by Hartwick versus John Carroll at
3:30pm. Sunday, Oneonta will face John Carroll at noon
while Hartwick will take on RIT at 2:30pm.
SUNY Oneonta will enter this weekend 1-1 after splitting its
games at the Cougar Classic hosted by Kean University this past
weekend. The Red Dragons defeated Richard Stockton 2-1
before falling to host Kean 2-1 on Saturday. Senior
Karly DeSimone led the offense with a pair of goals.
John Carroll opened its season with a 5-0 loss to Thomas More
College and is at Allegheny College today before heading to Oneonta
for this weekend’s tournament.
RIT opened its season with a pair of dramatic 1-0 victories in
double overtime against Allegheny and Otterbein this past
weekend. Their two wins earned them a No. 23 ranking in
this week’s NSCAA poll, which marked the first time in the
program’s 32-year history that the team has been nationally
ranked.
Hartwick managed a 1-1 tie in its only game of the season this
past weekend against Marywood. The Hawks were scheduled
to play two games, but their opener versus SUNY Cobleskill was
canceled because of severe weather.
