SUNY Oneonta Wins Mayor Cup With Convincing Two Goal Win, Defeating Hobart College

For the third straight year, the Red Dragons win the Mayor’s Cup, this time over Hobart College, as a new freshmen duo has potentially emerged.

Three Peat

ONEONTA, N.Y. — Back like he never left, Freshman Milton Mancias-Magana, who scored his first collegiate goal in the 3-2 win against St. Lawrence on Saturday. Mancias-Magana scored twice in Sunday’s match as the SUNY Oneonta men’s soccer team defeated Hobart College, 3-1, crowning them 2022 Mayor’s Cup Champions. As I mentioned, Mancias-Magana scored in the previous game, which meant he finished the tournament with three goals and an assist. The freshman was awarded the Offensive MVP award for his efforts, while senior Malcolm Swett received the Defensive MVP award.

Coach’s Thoughts

“The Mayor’s Cup is a big event for us, so it’s a great feeling lifting that trophy,” Head Coach Iain Byrne stated. “Those are two great wins as St. Lawrence and Hobart will win a lot of games this year. Anytime you have a superstar striker like Lucas Fecci leading the line, you always have a chance, and it’s a credit to him that he’s improved on last season’s Player of the Year performances.”

Fecci was joined by freshman Ian Zingaro, junior John Bernardi, and the goal scorer from Saturday’s win, Joe Holder on the All-Tournament team.

Scoring Early And Often

To score three times in a game, you’d think a few came early, maybe one after halftime, perhaps one in the dying minutes. Not for the Red Dragons on this day. In fact, all three came before the thirty-minute mark. The action started in the thirteenth minute, when fourth-year man Ethan Brunell played through a corner, which luckily hit once off a defender and bounced to Holder, who made no mistake putting it away, scoring on a header to give the home team the goal advantage.

As I said, these goals happened quickly, so before you could grab a snack, the newly touted freshman duo were back at it. In a bit of a breakaway, with a good look at the goal, Holder tried his luck but was denied by the keeper. As Mancias-Magana was running with the lead man, the deflection was able to reach the Mamaroneck product, as he put one in the back of the net to extend the Dragon’s lead to two. The crowd erupted as the home side took a commanding lead in the cup final.

Getting Rowdy

Throughout the match, the visitors were getting evidently upset with certain referee decisions and distracted, while Oneonta stayed focused. There were seven yellow cards dished out by the referees, four coming by the Oneonta Red Dragons, and three from Hobart. Right before the 30-minute mark, a few passes by Fecci and senior Arkadij Raiz found guess who, Milton Mancias-Magana who poured in his second of the final, putting the Red Dragons up three, essentially clinching a trophy celebration for the home side.

A Strong Performance By Oneonta

While yes, Hobart scored near the 70th minute, the three-goal deficit they were trying to overcome all game turned out to be just too much, as they fell 3-1. The goal came courtesy of Robbie Caron, who was set up by Ryan Luke. With the win, the Dragons go to 4-0-0 in the young season, with Rensselaer on the agenda next, in Troy, NY.