SUNY Oneonta Soccer Accolades
Mark Prolonged Run of Success

By TED MEBUST
ONEONTA
The SUNY Oneonta Men’s Soccer program continued its winning ways this past season, and they have the awards to prove it. Their coaching staff, led by veteran Head Coach Iain Byrne, received Division III Region III Staff of the Year commendations for 2022 by the United Soccer Coaches, an American organization of coaches made up of over 30,000 members, the largest association of soccer coaches in the world.

“This is really another award for the players. We ended the year as the number one team in the region, won our conference, and made a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. We had great support from our assistants—who wanted to do most of the work!” said Byrne, commending Assistant Coach Brian Wagstaff and Faculty Mentor JoAnne Murphy.

Senior Tristan Battistoni earned SUNYAC Men’s Soccer Student Athlete of the Year honors for the second consecutive year, the Academic All-American garnering acclaim from his coaches.

“Our team leaders were Tristan Battistoni, Lucas Fecci, Ian Zingaro, Ethan Brunell and Nate Hanna, our goalkeeper. Nate’s performance in the conference championship this year, on his birthday no less, was one for the ages,” said Byrne of his team’s 2022 campaign. All five will be moving on next season.

“Unfortunately, we lose a great senior group this year, so it may be back to the drawing board next year,” Byrne lamented. Despite this loss, Byrne pointed out that “some of the younger players made great progress and we [the Red Dragons] had two of the top freshmen in the conference,” referencing forwards Milton Mancias Magana and Joe Holder.

Mancias Magana tallied eight goals and nine assists in 19 games, while Holder contributed six goals and two assists in 21 contests. With these rising talents, the future seems bright for the Red Dragons, who have built a legacy to protect during Byrne’s tenure.

“We have been on a great run these last eleven years, so in a way it was business as usual. We have won two of the last three conference championships, and seven of the last 11. It all comes down to your big players making the difference in the pressure games, and this year they came through for us” said Byrne, whose teams have averaged a staggering 82 percent win percentage in the SUNY Athletic Conference over that time.

Byrne will be entering his 26th season for the Red Dragons this coming fall, having started shortly before the 1997 season.