OSWEGO — It’s that time of year again! It’s Hockey Season! As both the Oswego State Men’s and Women’s teams will take the ice this weekend at home in exhibitions. The women will get it started at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, going up against the London Jr. Deviletes. The men will then follow at 7 p.m., as they host Nazareth College. Saturday will also see the opening of the new History of Hockey display in the arena, which will pay homage to Laker’s hockey, past, and present.
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Women’s Basketball Ends Season on High-Note
OSWEGO, NY – The women’s basketball team split their games this weekend to finish the season including their final win of the 2022-2023 season.
Friday’s game concluded with the Lakers losing to Brockport 53-49 in overtime. Very little happened in the first quarter as both teams struggled from the paint. The game started out with Brockport’s Anna Felice making a three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. After that little happened between the two teams. The score was tied twice in the quarter with the Golden Eagles taking a 7-5 lead over the Lakers after quarter one. The Lakers went 20% the field and the Golden Eagles went 15.38% from the field. The second quarter was the same story as the first quarter. The quarter began with Chastin Giles making her first three-pointer of the day with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Less than 40 seconds later Sydney Hoefs would connect on her second three-pointer of the day to put the Lakers up 13-7. Juliana Logana would extend the Lakers lead to eight 15-7. The Golden Eagles would rally but the Lakers would lead 19-16 at halftime. Julia Logana and Sydney Hoefs would both lead the Lakers with six points at the half.
The third quarter would start with Zairea Hannah scoring to put the Golden Eagles down by one. The Lakers would respond about 30 seconds later with Caitie Lilly scoring to extend the Lakers lead to 21-18. The Golden Eagles manage to come close to taking the lead away from the Lakers but the Lakers held strong. Brockport struggled from the field in the second quarter going 3-16 and shooting 18.75%. The Lakers led 33-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Logan Castiglione helped extend the Lakers lead to ten connecting on a three-pointer with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter. Anna Lee would tie the game for the Golden Eagles at 41 with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter. The game would be tied at 41 going into overtime. In overtime, Zairea Hannah extended the Golden Eagles lead to 43-41 in the beginning of the overtime period. Chastin Giles would bring the Lakers back connecting on her second three-pointer of the game with 2:40 left in overtime. Shannon Blankenship would respond 28 seconds later making a three-pointer to help extend the Golden Eagles lead to 50-44 with 2:12 left in the game. Chastin Giles made a free-throw which brought the Lakers down 51-49 with 16 seconds left. Anna Felice would seal the Lakers fate with two free-throws to make the final score 53-49. Juliana Logana and Chastin Giles would both lead the Lakers with nine points on the day.
The second game saw the Lakers rebound from their loss against Brockport getting their final win of the season defeating the Fredonia Blue Devils 65-51. The Lakers found themselves in a bad position in the beginning of the first quarter trailing 8-0 with just 1:48 into the game, including giving up two three pointers to Fredonia’s Renee Park and Jaden Sciotti. Elaina Johnson would score the first points of the game for the Lakers to put them down 8-2. Sydney Hoefs made a three-pointer to bring the Lakers down by three and Shania Iglesias cut into the Blue Devils lead by cutting the Lakers deficit to just two at 10-8. The Lakers rallied to tie the game at 18 at the end of quarter one. Juliana Logana helped the Lakers take the lead at two at the beginning of the second quarter. With 4:50 left in the second quarter, Sydney Hoefs made another three-pointer to extend the Lakers lead to 12. Chastin Giles made a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 14 their biggest lead of the day so far in the game. Fredonia’s Allie Wandell made a three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second quarter but the Lakers would lead 40-32 at the half.
The third quarter began with no scoring until 7:23 left in the third quarter with Mary Culeton making two free-throws to cut into the Lakers lead at 40-34. With 3:54 left in the third quarter Alena Wright cut into the Lakers lead at 41-38. The Lakers extended their lead to 49-38 at the end of the third quarter. Fredonia’s Sarah Seaman cut into he Lakers lead to seven making a three-pointer. Logan Castiglione made back-to-back three-pointers to seal the Blue Devils fate. Elaina Johnson added the final point of the day for the Lakers for their 65-51 win over the Blue Devils. The Lakers went off in terms of scoring as they had four double-digit scorers on the day with Logan Castiglione, Elaina Johnson, Sydney Hoefs, and Juliana Logana who would all finish the day with 10+ points. Elaina Johnson had a career game leading the Lakers with 18 points on the day. Sydney Hoefs would lead the Lakers in both games with 19 points and led the Lakers with four three-pointers in both games. Overall, Logan Castiglione would have a career year leading the Lakers in points with 209, her previous record was 119 points last season. Karleigh Leo was second on the team with 200 points as a transfer student who made an immediate impact right away. Shania Iglesias would also improve this season as she finished third on the team in points with 176.
The Lakers conclude the season with their best finish at 13-12 their best record since the 2012-2013 season. They’ll head into the 2023-2024 season with a lot of confidence after a resurgence year from their team.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Oswego Defeats Buffalo State 6-1
The SUNY Oswego Men’s Ice Hockey team secured a win against the Buffalo State Bengals in their final game of the 2025-2026 regular season on February 21st.
The energy was electric from the second the puck hit the ice to open up the game. The fans in attendance made it known that they were here to cheer. The Lakers offence and defence were strong as the Lakers attacked the net with full force sparing no opportunity for a shot on goal–while goalie Brandon Milberg stood tall between the pipes allowing no goals in. The puck was going back and forth between zones, sharing the love for both teams until Oswego’s Colin Vassallo scored a power play goal assisted by Ryan Burke and Nico Paone with 3:40 left in the first. Buffalo’s Michael Marquez got a penalty after the period ended for roughing to leave the Buffalo State Bengals down a player on the ice to start the second.
Ryan Burke wasted no time and gave the Lakers their second goal of the night assisted by Nico Paone and Colin Vassllo–the same line who scored the first goal of the night. Oswego’s Brent Fudger earned himself a penalty for roughing 2:06 into the second. The penalty kill didn’t seem to faze Milberg in the slightest as he deflected each shot with ease. Adam Grenier scored his third goal of the season and the third goal of the game, allowing Colin Vassallo his second assist of the night. The Lakers enter the third up 3-0.
The third period started off slow until captain Matt McQuade took matters into his own hands with the help of Colin Vassallo and Connor Gatto to give the Lakers their 4th goal of the game. Nearly 2 minutes after his first goal McQuade scored his 11th goal of the season on the power play. Although they were quiet for most of the game, the Bengals finally answered back when Andrew Langlois buried one deep in the net. With 7:14 left in the game Brandon Cohen closes the game out with assists by Jesse Horacek and Colin Vassallo, being his third assist for the night. Brandon Milberg ended his night only allowing 1 of 40 shots past him giving him a .975 save percentage for the night.
The Buffalo State Bengals will return to Oswego on Wednesday February 25th at 7pm to face the Oswego Lakers for the first matchup of the SUNYAC Tournament.
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Schedule Changes for Oswego State Baseball and Softball
Athletic teams at SUNY Oswego continue to feel the effects of COVID-19 in the form of game postponements and cancellations. The start of the season for the Oswego State baseball team is pushed back, and the softball team has a third of their remaining games canceled or postponed.
Oswego baseball was scheduled to open their season on the road at Saint John Fisher in a doubleheader on Saturday March 27 which was postponed. The season opener then became Wednesday March 31 against Ithaca at home, and that game was canceled. The Lakers baseball team is now scheduled to start their season Saturday April 3rd in a 1:00 and 3:00 doubleheader at Brockport.
Oswego softball opened their season with a doubleheader at RIT on Monday March 22, the Lakers lost the first game 9-8, and won the second game 4-3. The 1-1 Lakers softball team was scheduled to play at Saint John Fisher in a doubleheader on Monday March 29, those two games are postponed. Oswego softball was slated for a doubleheader on back to back days, Wednesday April 7 versus Houghton, and Thursday April 8 at Potsdam, all four of those games have been canceled. Oswego softball is scheduled to play their next game in a doubleheader April 10 at home against Brockport.
Oswego baseball will get a late start to their season, and softball will have a long layoff before returning to game action. Men’s lacrosse plays Friday April 2 at 4:00 at Brockport and Women’s lacrosse returns back to action Saturday April 3 at 1:00 versus Fredonia at home. Catch all the action on WTOP 10 as the spring sports season continues on.
