OSWEGO — Hockey in Oswego started Saturday afternoon with a game featuring Women’s Hockey and the London Junior Devilettes. This match up would be the first of two exhibition games the Lakers would play before the start of their regular season in two weekends. All though the team would fall to London 4-0, the group laid down steady work that can be improved on in the coming weeks. The Devilettes would put only one goal past senior Rachael Farmer in 14 shots in the first period. Tia Trovato, freshman goalie, would allow three goals in the third period despite a 10 save effort. Women’s hockey looks to move on into one last exhibition game Saturday against William Smith. Puck drop will be at 3 p.m. at the Marano Campus Center.
-
Men’s Hockey Season Recap after SUNYAC run
GENESEO, NY — The Men’s Hockey team will head to Geneseo this weekend to battle for the SUNYAC Championship. The 16-9-1 Lakers have had an up and down season up to this point, as the group now is on a five-game winning streak fresh of a victory over rivals Plattsburgh. Oswego’s season started back on October 19th with an exhibition game against Carleton Place, then against Nazareth, both wins for the Lakers. The group would head into the regular season and secure four conference wins in a homestand at the Marano Campus Center that would give them first place in the SUNYAC standings.
One turning point in the season came from a road trip to Geneseo, to face a nationally ranked team in the same barn that Oswego lost the SUNYAC Championship in last season. The Lakers would fall apart and lose 9-1 as multiple Lakers would be tossed from the game and miss their next matchup against Hobart. This game would be the start of a three-game losing streak against nationally ranked teams, Hobart and Salve Regina in the Utica Thanksgiving Tournament. Oswego would turn it around on that Saturday in Utica against Plymouth State to give the Lakers hope as the team continued into the last week of the first half of the season. The Lakers would head on the road and swept the Buffalo teams in the conference to finish 7-3 in the first semester.
Oswego would come back from Christmas Break to play in the annual Pathfinder Bank/Oswego State Classic in which the team would first face off against Saint Mary’s. The defending champs would fall to the mid-west team 1-0 and face UNE the following day and also lose 4-3 to start the new year off on the wrong foot. This losing streak would continue against two more nationally ranked teams in the month of January as Utica and Elmira defeated the Lakers in the Marano Campus Center. The Lakers would not defeat any nationally ranked team this season as the group would go 0-6 against those teams, one of the biggest eyesores of the 2019-2020 season.
After losing to Cortland in overtime, Steven Kozikoski, the sophomore netminder that has not played in a regular season game for the Lakers, got his shot in between the pipes as both senior goalies David Richer and Cedric Hansen were not playing their best games. Kozikoski’s first start was against Canton, a team Oswego has figured out the past few seasons. The Lakers took a commanding win in the Marano Campus Center as the group defeated Canton 8-2 and was one of the turning points that occurred in the second half of the season. The new netminder would go 5-1-1 in net and win his first playoff game for the Lakers this past Tuesday.
The group secured the second seed in the standings with their success in the second semester and faced Plattsburgh on home ice. The team would defeat their rivals 4-1 and move on to Geneseo. The Lakers season once again would end in Geneseo as the Ice Knights defeated Oswego 4-1 in the SUNYAC finals. This would be the second time Oswego would not be able to get it done in the finals while being held at Geneseo. The Lakers would finish 16-10-1 to end the season as the group looks to rebuild as 13 seniors will move on from the program. Moving forward, Oswego looks to rebuild around players like Alex DiCarlo, Travis Broughman, and Steven Kozikoski heading into these next few years as these three players are all underclassmen.
-
Mens basketball brings win streak to 14 in dominant weekend
The Oswego state Lakers kept their hot streak of 14 straight going after two big home wins this weekend in the Max Ziel. The Lakers were met by Plattsburgh state on Friday night where the Cardinals were hoping for revenge from a previous 86-74 loss on December 11th. The Cardinals played tough n the first half and only trailed by two at 27-25 with 7:40 to go in the first half. But over the next five minutes the Lakers would go on a 19-6 run started from senior Devin Green and sophomore Joey Rowback. Oswego shot well from behind the arc in the first half with seven three-pointers from the Lakers as they took a 52-33 at the break.
The Lakers then exploded offensively at the start of the second half as Cartier Bowman started quick with 8 points in the first 5 minutes to bring the Oswego lead to 30. Oswego would then cruise from there and win with a 97-61 win. The Lakers shot 57% from the field in the second half and Jeremiah Sparks would stay hot with 27 points a game after going over the 1,000 point marker. Bowman, Green, Joey Rowback and Ahkee Anderson would also all score double digits in the contest.
Oswego would then move on to Suny Potsdam on Saturday afternoon. The Lakers and Bears started the game matching each others shots through the first seven minutes of play before the Lakers started to warm up and pull away. Joey Rowback would go on a absolute tear and hit four threes in a night where he ended with 15 points leading the Lakers to a 24 point lead at halftime. The Lakers shot a incredible 60.3% from the field in the first half of play and out rebounded the Bears by a 22-10 margin.
The Lakers would remain in control through the second half of play, refusing to let the Bears back into the game. Oswego would win their 14th straight and score over 100 points again with a 103-78 win over the Bears. Devin Green led the Lakers with 18 points on the evening, shooting 50% from the field Jamal Achille led the Lakers on the glass with eight rebounds and also pouring in 15 points.
Oswego now improves to 18-2,12-1 SUNYAC and will tip-off against New Paltz on Friday, February 3rd at home in the Max Ziel Gymnasium at 7:30pm.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
-
Mens basketball stays hot with twelfth straight win
CORTLAND, N.Y. — The Oswego State Men’s Basketball team took to the road Saturday afternoon to take on the Cortland Red Dragons. They continued their hot streak with a 72-64 win. The game started well for the Lakers, building a double digit lead early in the first half. Devin Green had eight points and Brendon Mulson had seven on the way to 21-11 lead with nine to go in the first. The Red Dragons weren’t letting the Lakers get away, a 10-2 run brought them right back into the game. The Lakers would hold the lead at the half 34-29. The Lakers shot 35% from the field and a cool 5-19 from deep. Cortland shot 32% from the field and 4-15 from three.
The Red Dragons came out of the locker rooms hot, a 15-8 run helped them take a 44-42 lead with fifteen to play. Ahkee Anderson scored seven points, and a Mulson layup, would get lead lead back to five at 51-46. The teams would trade baskets the rest of the game, and two made free throws from Green saw the Lakers close the game out, 72-64. Brendon Mulson was Lakers leading scorer with fourteen while adding six rebounds. Jeremiah Sparks had thirteen points to go with eight rebounds. Christian Simmons had a double double, eleven points and eleven rebounds. Devin Green added twelve and Ahkee Anderson had eleven, both with seven boards.
The Lakers travel to the Geneseo for their next game on Tuesday, January 25. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. in Geneseo. Oswego currently sits at 15-1 (9-0 SUNYAC) and are ranked #25 in the country.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
