BUFFALO, N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo first-year Erin O'Connor and classmate Emily Green tallied goals in the first eight minutes of the match to lead the sixth-seeded Knights to a 2-1 upset of second-seeded Buffalo State, Wednesday afternoon, in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Women's Soccer Tournament.

With the victory, Geneseo (7-7-5) advances to Saturday's SUNYAC Championship game at top-seeded Oneonta at 1:00 p.m. The Red Dragons also moved on to the tournament final with a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Brockport this afternoon.

"It was a tale of two halves today as the wind really affected play," said head coach Nate Wiley. "We were able to take care of our opportunities with the wind in the first half and managed the game well in the second half to hold on to the win."

The Knights took advantage of having the wind at their backs in the first half as O'Connor struck for her seventh goal of the season just 2:41 into the match. Barely five yards off the end line in the left corner, she took a shot from 25 yards out that fooled Bengals' keeper Linda Banfield and defelcted off her hand into the back of the net.

Less than five minutes later, sophomore back Samantha Sherman fed Green who connected from a nearly identical angle from 10 yards out in the left corner to put the visitors up by two with only 7:32 elapsed.

The Bengals (11-6-2) had the wind advantage in the second half and in the 65th minute were able to get on the board following a corner kick attempt served up by Jordan Dudish finished off by Shannon Yokopovich inside the right post. 

Buffalo State finished with an 11-6 advantage in shots, but Knights' senior keeper Julia Sanger finished with four saves to preserve Geneseo's first berth in the SUNYAC Championship game since winning the title in 2009.

Geneseo and visiting Oneonta played to a 1-1 draw earlier this season. Senior midfielder Alexa Krebs broke a scoreless tie with a tally in the 51st minute before the Red Dragons found the equalizer 20 minutes later en route to the draw. 

The Knights will be making their 14th appearance in the SUNYAC Championship match, and will be in the hunt for their fifth title to go along with wins in the 1987, 1993, 1994 and 2009 finals.