11/22/04
Velan pushes O-State past Hamilton
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Late goal gives Oneonta victory Saturday
By P.J. Harmer
Staff Writer
ONEONTA — Mary Velan didn’t get a national championship in her freshman season, but she did about everything else.
Stamford graduate Velan scored with 7 minutes, 39 seconds left Saturday to give the Oneonta State women’s soccer a 2-1 victory over Hamilton in the third round of the NCAA Division III Tournament at Red Dragon Field.
Velan, the SUNY Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, also scored the winner in a 1-0 overtime defeat of Ithaca in the second ro[an error occurred while processing this directive]und. O-State’s season ended Sunday with a 3-0 loss to Wheaton (Mass.) in the quarterfinals.
Velan, The Daily Star’s Player of the Year in 2002, finished the season with a team-leading 16 goals and 38 points. Five of her goals were winners.
Saturday’s goal came off a pass from Tricia Jaeger. The ball bounced off the foot of a defender right to Velan.
"I was trying to get it in front of the net," Jaeger said. "At the last second, I saw Mary and luckily it deflected right to her."
Velan settled the ball, turned and shot into the upper-left corner.
"I didn’t have a thought process," Velan said. "It ricocheted off a defender’s feet and fell to my feet. It was congested in there."
O-State, which beat Hamilton, 4-2, on Oct. 30, took a 1-0 lead 4:27 into the game on a head ball from Jaeger.
Sarah Tauber’s throw-in went into the Hamilton penalty box, and Leslie Small headed the ball in Jaeger’s direction. Jaeger went up in a crowd and headed the ball over goalie Caitlin McGilley.
"The biggest thing we wanted to do was catch them off-guard from the start," O-State coach Tracey Ranieri said. "The fact that we can score a goal on a quality team in the first five minutes shows a lot about our team."
Said Jaeger: "It was right in front of me and I was trying to put it in front of the goal and I got lucky."
O-State had several other quality chances in the first half.
Small got loose on the right side 9:47 in and had an open lane, but her shot went just wide. About 12 minutes later, Colleen Wolbert sent a corner kick into the penalty box. The ball went off McGilley’s hands and to Velan, but her header went wide right.
"Today, I feel we should have finished," said Ranieri, whose team had a 17-10 shot advantage. "By letting them stay in it, the ending was nail-biting."
Hamilton (15-2-1) tied it 4:02 into the second half. As O-State’s defense was pushing out, Hilary Gamble chipped a ball to Eileen Fisher, who took three dribbles and shot point-blank range on Oneonta goalie Laura Morcone.
Morcone made the initial save, but the ball deflected back to Fisher. She didn’t miss this time, beating Morcone before she could recover.
O-STATE 2, HAMILTON 1
Hamilton (15-2-1): Eileen Fisher 1-0.
O-State: Tricia Jaeger 1-1, Mary Velan 1-0, Leslie Small 0-1, Sarah Tauber 0-1.
Shots-corners: Hamilton 10-4; O-State 17-9.
Goalies: Caitlin McGilley (H); Laura Morcone (O) 2.
