OSWEGO — Volleyball had their 2nd SUNYAC match of the weekend yesterday. SUNY Oneonta visited Mark Ziel Gymnasium were the Lakers and Red Dragons used all five sets in this rivalry match up. Oswego would go down 2-1 going into the 3rd set until Junior Melissa Lussier helped lead the ladies to a comeback. This win is the first in conference play this season for the team which adds to their overall record of 13-6. Nazareth will enter the gym on Wednesday for a non-conference match starting at 7 p.m.
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Oswego State men’s hockey announces 2022-23 leadership group
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s hockey team announced on Sunday, April 10th the 2022-23 leadership group for the team. The Lakers will return for their 56th season in the fall and three current Lakers will be the core leadership to lead the squad into battle. Ryan Bunka will return using his extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 to be the captain of the 2022-23 team. The defenseman from Unionville, Ontario, Canada has played three seasons for the Lakers and missed the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 canceling the campaign. Bunka has 36 games played with 3 goals and 6 assists over the course of his career at Oswego State. The left handed defenseman only missed 2 games this past season and was an essential part of the defensive core on the second pairing. The Laker finished +16 in the plus/minus column at the end of the year, the best out of any Oswego State player.
In the assistant captain roles, defenseman Troy Robillard and forward Alex DiCarlo will get the A on the jersey for next season. DiCarlo has been with the program since his freshman year back in the 2019-20 season. The Ontario native started his freshman campaign as a healthy scratch before becoming a key part of the offensive core by the end of the season. During his sophomore season, DiCarlo returned from the COVID-19 break and continued his dominance in the SUNYAC conference. In 26 games played, the Laker tallied 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. The point per game player did not miss a game this season and set career high stats in both the goal and assist column.
The other assistant captain transferred to Oswego State from the NCAA Division I program out of Anchorage, Alaska. Robillard established himself as a key addition to the defensive team after playing 23 games this past season. The defenseman finished with 4 goals and 3 assists after his first season in green and gold. One of those goals was a game winner in the Teal Night game against SUNY Cortland back during the fall semester. The junior will return for his senior year at Oswego State.
The Lakers are looking ahead to the summer months and the key part of the season, the offseason. Oswego State has one game announced so far for the 2022-23 season that is publicly known. The Utica College Pioneers released on twitter the date of their Teddy Bear Toss game for next season. Oswego State will travel to Utica on December 3rd for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State men’s hockey team prior to their 2022-23 season.
Image Provided By Oswego State Men’s Hockey Twitter (@OswegoMHockey)
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Oswego’s Men’s Lacrosse Team Set to Begin 2021 Season
OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Team is set to take on SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, March 20th to kick off their 2021 season. This will be the Oswego Men’s Lacrosse team’s first action in over a year due to the pandemic. However, unlike prior seasons, conference play is set to begin earlier than ever before, starting March 26th versus Geneseo. Senior goaltender Kevin O’Donnell understands just how important these early games are to set the tone for the rest of the season.
“With SUNYACs coming up so soon and those being the most important games for our team, the level of expectancy exceeds any other season in my opinion,” O’Donnell said. “Especially with the teams were playing, Morrisville, Oneonta, and then the rest of the SUNY division, it’s important that were on our A-game.”
O’Donnell is now a team captain and is looking to surpass 400 career saves in the coming games.
Being that this is the Lakers first game since March of 2020, it’s important that they eliminate any mistakes or confusion they might have. Head Coach Drew Bezek, who is going into his 7th season on the coaching staff, believes his team needs to master their game plan early on in order to be successful.
“With early season games, it’s always about limiting mistakes and doing what we need to do. A lot of times with the beginning part of the season, you’re not so worried about your competition and what they run. It’s us being super-efficient and consistent at what we’re trying to do.”
Although many things are different this season for the players, coaches, and staff, film sessions and scouting remain an important aspect of Oswego’s success. However, since teams only played a few games in 2020, the Lakers will have to anticipate Oneonta’s game plan based off what they saw from early last year.
Coach Bezek said, “We’ll treat this year similar to the past where for the first game of the year, your kind of going off tendencies from the previous year. We’re not going to know some of their new players, but from the film, we could try to piece together how they run their system.”
The Lakers have won their last four games vs. Oneonta dating back to 2016 and look to extend their win streak to five on Saturday.
Package Aired Thursday 3/18/21 on Nightly News
