ONEONTA, N.Y.— Oneonta State came in to the SUNYAC Championships as the number one seed and walked off the field as the 2010 Women’s soccer SUNYAC Champions defeating Plattsburgh 2-1 in a fiercely contested final.

With the title, comes the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament for Oneonta (15-4-2). For the Red Dragons, they will be making its 12th consecutive appearance in the national tournament. Oneonta will know Monday afternoon when and where they will be playing when the NCAA announces the 2010 tournament field.

For Plattsburgh (15-3-1), it was their second trip to the championship game ever, its first coming back in 1998. That year they defeated Oneonta 1-0 in Plattsburgh to claim its only championship. The Cardinals are hopeful that they will receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament with its strong overall record in the East region.

The game started with the Cardinals flying seeming to control the fast-paced tempo they like to play. Keeping fresh legs on the field with multiple substitutions, Kayla Rabideau came off the bench and found herself with an opportunity in the 20th minute in front of an open net. Oneonta keeper Amy Lusby (West Babylon) got caught out of position, but Rabideau’s shot rolled inches past the left post wide.

Twelve seconds later the Red Dragons quickly marched down the field forcing a corner kick. In the 21st minute of play, the momentum switched as freshman Karly DeSimone (Clifton Park) put it past the keeper to put Oneonta ahead, 1-0.

With Oneonta putting the pressure on, senior Nha Wright (Schenectady) was awarded a penalty kick after she was pulled down inside the box. Wright stepped up and converted the kick to put the Red Dragons up 2-0.

In the 38th minute the Plattsburgh offense slipped through the defense, but was called offside as the half ended with Oneonta up 2-0.

In the first ten minutes of the second half both teams took their chances each having two shots towards the net but all were unable to score.

In the 75th minute of play, Plattsburgh received its chance after being awarded a penalty kick after a foul inside the box against an Oneonta defender. Senior Elizabeth Radigan took and made the penalty kick to cut the lead to only one with just under 15 minutes to play.

The shots went back-and-forth as the clock winded down. Plattsburgh had two shots in the final two minutes, but couldn’t find the back of the net as time expired.

DeSimone, Wright and freshman Alaina Greco (Ballston Spa) joined tournament MVP, senior Erin Boyle (West Babylon) on the All-Tournament team for Oneonta.

Scoring summary
OS, Karly DeSimone (Nha Wright), 21:30; Nha Wright (penalty kick), 34:59
P, Elizabeth Radigan (penalty kick), 75:15

Team Statistics
Shots: OS, 12; P, 13
Corner Kicks: OS, 5; P, 0

Goalies
OS, Amy Lusby (W, 13-4-2), 6 saves
P, Alina Greiser (L, 15-3-1), 6 saves