ONEONTA, NY – Senior forward Mike Rood’s (Conklin, NY/Susquehanna Valley) first-half brace helped the Hartwick men’s soccer team to a two-goal lead just over 27 minutes into the game and the Hawks would cruise the rest of the way in a 3-0 victory over visiting St. Bonaventure Friday on Elmore Field. The win marks the first for the Hawks in a season opener since the 2011 campaign.
            Hartwick held a sizeable advantage in shots for the match, out-shooting the Bonnies 19-3. It included an 11-2 margin in the first half.
            Rood would open the scoring in the 20^th minute as he took a long pass on the ground from the back from fellow senior Jamie O’Grady (Falkirk, Scotland/Falkirk) and tucked it past Bonnies keeper Luke Iacobellis for a 1-0 lead.
            The duo hooked up again in the 28^th minute. O’Grady served an aerial ball to the top of the Bonaventure box to Rood who headed it over Iacobellis. The ball ricocheted off the bar straight down and bounced over the line for the 2-0 ’Wick advantage.
            The Hawks thought they had a third with 14 minutes left in the half as O’Grady ran onto the ball and put it away after Kit Tregear (Hassocks, England) had set him up on a header following a Jack Donaldson (Paisley, Scotland/Mars Hill University) free kick. The linesman, however, whistled the Hawks for offside keeping the game at 2-0.
            Hartwick had a flurry of chances in a three-minute window early in the second half. Marcus Nordgard (Copenhagen, Denmark/Oeregaard Gymnasium) redirected a cross from Marc Berry (Galashiels, Scotland/Galashiels Academy) off the post nine minutes in. Berry then headed a Johnny McBeth (Glasgow, Scotland/Upper Iowa University) cross right at Iacobellis 1:45 later. McBeth sent a header off a service from Elliott Bentley (Leicestershire, England/Tresham College) just wide of the far post a minute and a half after that.
            Berry would put the game on ice after beating a handful of Bonaventure defenders in the box and slamming his left-footed shot into the net in the 75^th minute.
            The Hawks would keep the Bonnies out the rest of the way to earn the clean sheet. Lenny Wilson (Aberdeen, Scotland) would play all 90 minutes in goal making two saves. Iacobellis finished the night with two stops as well.
            Hartwick next plays on Tuesday, August 30 at Marist College beginning at 7 p.m. in Poughkeepsie.

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