Cardinal Points

Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Sports

Head Coach Chris Waterbury and Assistant Coach Claudio Dias address the men's soccer team at practice. The Cards went 0-1-1 in SUNYAC play last weekend. [Click to enlarge]

A tough road trip dropped the Plattsburgh State men's soccer team to seventh overall in the SUNYAC standings as of Oct. 8. They are 2-2-1 in SUNYAC play, 9-3-1 overall, after being the preseason No. 1 ranked team in the SUNYAC.

The top six teams in SUNYAC play make the SUNYAC tournament.

Last Friday's game ended in a tie with the Cortland Red Dragons, 1-1. Junior Joe Bogart almost gave PSUC the lead at the end of regulation, but hit the crossbar.

"It hurt. I thought it was going in, I wish I could have that chance back, hopefully I can make up for it this weekend," Bogart said.

PSUC won the shootout that followed the two overtimes, 4-2. If the two teams tie in the SUNYAC standings at the end of the regular season, PSUC wins the tiebreaker. Cortland is in second place in the SUNYAC at 3-0-1.

Sophomore Matt Mankowski scored on his former team of Cortland, to tie the game and had a chance in overtime to win it for PSUC but was denied.

"It felt good to score on Cortland, but too bad we didn't score another one to finish them off," Mankowski said. "It's a real letdown to only get one point out of the match.

Last Saturday, PSUC was upset by the Oswego Lakers 2-1. Down 2-0 at the start of the second half, PSUC got its only goal due to an Oswego own goal.

"The Cortland game took a physical and mental toll on us; Oswego knew that and wanted to take us out while we were weak," Mankowski said. "The field was wide and had soft grass, which is something we aren't used to playing on."

PSUC is used to playing on the synthetic turf of the Fieldhouse.

Today PSUC will be home, where it is 7-1-0, in a match-up against the New Paltz Hawks. New Paltz is 4-6-2 (1-4-0 SUNYAC). The Hawks have lost three games in a row.

PSUC's Pat Shaughnessy and New Paltz's James Altadonna, both freshmen, lead their teams in points and goals as both teams try to bounce back after losses last weekend.

Altadonna has 23 points (11 G, 1 A) this season, as three New Paltz players have three goals. Shaughnessy has 21 points (10 G, 1 A) on the year.

The Cards face Oneonta tomorrow. The Red Dragons are coming off a loss last week to Geneseo. They will play Potsdam today, before coming to PSUC. Oneonta defeated Oswego after Oswego's upset over PSUC.

The opposing goalkeepers will be an intriguing aspect of this game.

Oneonta has a freshman in net, Maxwell Siegelman, who has a .785 save percentage. PSUC senior keeper John San Filippo sports a .735 save percentage. Siegelman has 44 saves, to San Filippo's 25.

This weekend will be important for PSUC's SUNYAC tournament hopes with two more SUNYAC games this weekend. The top six teams in the conference play in the conference tournament. The winner of the SUNYAC gets an automatic bid to the NCAA national championships in mid-November.

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