FREDONIA, N.Y. -- Fredonia fell to No. 7 ranked Oneonta, 2-1, Saturday afternoon at University Stadium. The loss eliminated the Blue Devils from the SUNYAC post-season picture.

Up 1-0 at halftime, the Blue Devils (8-7-2 overall, 2-5-2 SUNYAC) were unable to hold off the Red Dragons (12-1-2 overall, 7-1-1 SUNYAC), who'll enter the upcoming conference men's soccer tournament as one of the top two seeds. Fredonia finished seventh, two points short of the sixth and final playoff seed.

Cory Stantangelo and Nicholas Plate had the Oneonta goals and goalkeeper Nicholas Giardano made three saves for Oneonta. Dylan Moeser (Amherst, N.Y.) scored for Fredonia and goalkeeper Ty Bentham (Columbus, Ind.) made 12 saves, several of them spectacular.

"Today," Blue Devil Head Coach P.J. Gondek said, "we were going up against one of the powerhouse teams in the nation. We sure battled with them for a long time but unfortunately in the second half we had a mental block and gave them a couple of goals."

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead into halftime on a goal Moeser's second goal of the season two seconds into the 16th minute. Following a corner kick into the box by Matt Belardi (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), Moeser and Conrad Rathbun (Naples, N.Y.) took headers that Giardono stopped. Moeser cleaned up the play with a short blast inside the left post.

The lead lasted only four minutes into the second half as Santangelo made it 1-1 on a header off a high cross by Plate in the 49th minute. The Red Dragons grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 60th minute on a breakaway goal by Plate.

The Blue Devils nearly scored the equalizer in the 87th minute when Rathbun fired a low shot from the right wing which glanced off the opposite post. Ryan Ross (Grand Island, N.Y.) then blasted the rebound over the top of the net.

It was the final time in a Fredonia uniform for five seniors: Ross, Dan Griffin (Williamsville, N.Y.), Aaron Hayes (Hamburg, N.Y.), Eric Priester (Jamestown, N.Y.), and captain Dave Trabold (Fairport, N.Y.). Priester missed the entire season due to injury but remained part of the program. A sixth senior, Parker Healy (East Aurora, N.Y.), missed most of the second half of the season due to an injury.

"There are six guys who are no longer with our program and they were with us for some time," Gondek said. "That's always a tough thing.

"I said to the guys after the game, we had nine spots to fill this year, so that was always going to be a monumental task. And to make it even harder, we replaced a lot of those experienced players with freshmen. And we had a few injuries. Not having Parker all season long made things even tougher. He was probably one of the most dangerous players in the league. .

"While I would never call a season where we did not make the playoffs a success, we sure had some cool moments. Winning the two early season tournaments and we had some overtime wins that made things fun. Plus, having so many freshmen play this year should really help us down the line."