Mighty Oaks Soccer, XC Teams Post Wins

09/21/2021

It was a busy week for Mighty Oaks athletics with soccer teams on the pitch and cross country runners on the trails.

The Mighty Oaks women's soccer team opened their first home game Sept. 17 with a big win over SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) 5-1. The team came out with high intensity and never looked back. The Oaks outshot the Wildcats 10 to 4 and controlled much of possession. The team looks to continue their 3 -0 win streak against SUNY Canton on Sept. 21.

The Mighty Oaks men's soccer teams showed up in grand fashion in a weekend of paired strong performances. Saturday, the Oaks hosted their first conference opponent of the season, the Culinary Institute, finishing with a commanding 8-0 victory. Sunday consisted of a repeated scenario versus The Kings College. After a quick 1-0 start, the Oak's recomposed and rallied late in the second half with two more goals by senior Jack Phillips.

"All we had to do was show up and play our game. Our quality got us up early in both games, and our grit helped us finish the job. They were two great team wins," said Phillips about the weekend's victories.

The Oaks sit in first place in the HVIAC. The team heads out of town this weekend to face off against Bryant & Stratton of Rochester

The Mighty Oaks women's cross country team was without their top runner, Junior Abby Perez, this weekend. However, the team pulled together for the win at the Wildcat Classic Invitational at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Bryce Hopper, a transfer from SUNY New Paltz, had a breakout race getting the overall win. Hopper also earned a spot on the all-time ESF first-year 6K performance list. Her time of 24:39 places her sixth on the list. "Our goal was to win the meet and we did that," said Coach Mike Melfi.

The Mighty Oaks men's team was also without their top runner junior Matt Tripp at the Wildcat Classic. The Oaks knew going in that SUNY Cobleskill had a strong team, and finished second to Cobleskill by just 20 points.

"I believe if Tripp was there, we could have made it a bit more interesting, but hats off of SUNY Cobleskill," said Melfi. "They ran great. Junior captain Sam Auria set a personal best 8K time. He finished as our fourth man, and this was a breakthrough performance for him as the SUNY Poly course was not designed to produce fast times."