OSWEGO, NY- The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse finished their 2023 lacrosse season as they played two games this week as they played Cortland and Potsdam on the road.

The first game was an usual outing for the Lakers against Cortland but they would be lose 22-5. The Lakers would get off on the wrong foot in the first quarter as they trailed 7-0 with 4:36 left in the first quarter as Klay Stuver would score twice during that span for the Red Dragons. The Lakers would finally get their first goal of the game as Liam Sexton would score unassisted with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Dragons would continue to find answers to the Lakers defense as Ryan Smith and Tyler Starrett would score for the Red Dragons to give Cortland a 9-1 lead at the end of quarter one. 33 seconds into the second quarter Klay Stuver would score his third goal of the game as Tyler Starrett assisted with the goal. The Lakers second goal would come 2:35 seconds later with Gavin Elston scoring his first goal of the game. Almost two minutes later Liam Sexton scored his second goal of the game as the Lakers trailed 10-3. Three minutes would go by without both teams scoring until Klay Stuver scored his fourth goal of the game to put the Red Dragons up 11-3. Connor Aspinal would score his first goal in four games to put the Lakers down 12-4 with 2:14 remaining in the first half. The rest of the second quarter would remain scoreless with the Red Dragons leading 12-4 at half. Cortland would dominate the face-off battle winning nine face-offs compared to Oswego’s five.

The second half would write the same story for the Lakers as the first. Three minutes and nine seconds would go by the in third quarter without a score from both teams until Caden Yancey scored for the Red Dragons to put them up 13-4. Two minutes and fifty two seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score the final goal of the game for the Lakers to put them down 13-5. Klay Stuver’s brother Kole would score his first goal of the game to give the Red Dragons a 14-5 lead. The Red Dragons would lead 19-5 at the end of the third quarter. Tyler Starrett would score twice during that span with Caden Yancey, Ryan Smith, and Nick Stoecker scoring once as well during that 5-0 run during the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter would start with a 6:32 scoring drought for both teams until Joe DeLany scored his second goal of the season for the Red Dragons to put them up 20-5. Bradley Cunningham and Tristan Triolo would score the final two goals of the day for the Red Dragons as both of them would score their first goals of the season as well as their second career goals. The Red Dragons would win 22-5 as they had 13 different players scoring for them. This marks the second time the Lakers have lost 22-5 to Cortland in their program’s history. This also marks the tenth time the Lakers gave up 22+ to the Red Dragons with their worst loss against Cortland losing 29-5 back on New Years Day 1984.

The Lakers would rebound against Potsdam in their last game of the season winning 13-12. The Lakers got things started scoring 1:23 seconds into the game with Jack Delany scoring for the Lakers. It didn’t take the Lakers long to score again as two minutes later Liam Sexton would put one in the net for the Lakers to give them a 2-0 lead with 11:37 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams went scoreless for 7:44 seconds until Corey O’Connor would score a goal man-up after a Potsdam penalty. Sixteen seconds later Logan Prescott would score for the Lakers to make it 4-0. Potsdam would finally get on the board with 1:38 left in the first quarter as Peyton Smith would score for the Bears to make it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. Potsdam would add a goal early in the second quarter as Drew Rose would score unassisted with just 2:46 into the second quarter. Oswego would go score for 5:16 seconds until Corey O’Connor added his second goal of the game with Jack Delany assisting the goal. Eighteen seconds later O’Connor would add goal number four of the day to put the Lakers up 6-2. Potsdam would score another goal to make it 6-3 with 2:30 remaining in the first half. Trey Jones would score with 57 seconds left in the half to give the Lakers a 7-3 lead at half.

The Bears would cut the Lakers lead to three with just 19 seconds into the second half as Tyler Gould would put one in the back of the net for Potsdam. Thirty seven seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score for the Lakers to make it 8-4. Potsdam would rally off two straight goals to cut the Lakers lead to 8-6 with 9:42 left in the third quarter. Hayden Coney and Logan Prescott would add two more goals for the Lakers to increase their lead to 10-6 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. The Bears would cut the score to two with 1:46 left in the third quarter as Peyton Walsh would have his second goal of the game and Ryan Wassmer would score his first of the game. Peyton Walsh would score his third goal of the game just 1:23 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the Lakers lead to just one. Gavin Elston would bring the Lakers lead back to two with 11:34 remaining in the fourth. Potsdam would score man-down as Bryce Tyler was called for a cross-check but it wouldn’t matter for the Bears as Noah Strader would score to bring the score to a one-point game. Liam Sexton would make the score 12-10 with 8:24 left in the game. Potsdam would quickly respond as Peyton Walsh scored goal number four of the day with 7:36 left. Jack Delany would score his second goal of the game and would seal the deal for the Lakers with 2:34 remaining in the game to make the final score 13-12 Oswego.

The Lakers finish 7-5 to end their 2023 season as they will face off once against Cortland in the first round of the SUNYAC Playoff Tournament on Wednesday, May 3rd at Cortland at 4:00. The Lakers clinch their first playoff berth since 2019 where that season ended losing to guess who, the Cortland Red Dragons 13-10. This game will be a rematch of last week’s game as Oswego looks to avoid going 0-41 against Cortland all-time in their program’s history and finally get over the hump and beat Cortland.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP-10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT