CORTLAND, NY — Oswego High School Hockey went on the road last Thursday for the first round of Sectionals for Division II. The Buccaneers were the fifth seed and traveled to Cortland to face off against the fourth seed, Cortland-Homer. The Golden Eagles would take the 8-2 and move on into the semi final round. Oswego’s two goals would come from Brayden Miller and Adam Michalski along with Carson Colucci tallying an assist. Brandon Demling would make 26 saves even though the goaltender would give up eight goals in the contest. The Bucs would be outshoot by the Golden Eagles 34 to 32 as the Cortland-Homer netminder would make 30 saves.
This ends Oswego’s season as the group finished 11-10 overall. The Buccaneers are graduating a total of nine players this year, four defenseman and five forwards. All three goaltenders will stay with the team which is good news moving forward for the group. Cortland-Homer will move on to face Skaneateles as the Golden Eagles will travel there on Wednesday for the second semi final game for Division II.
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Men’s basketball: SUNYAC championship recap and NCAA tournament preview
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball started their playoffs with a SUNYAC championship victory. They were the top seeded team in the tournament because they had the best regular season record in the conference. This saw them host both semi-final matchups and the finals. The first round of the tournament was on Tuesday, the winner’s of those two games would travel to Oswego to take on the Lakers, and the other team with a first round bye, Oneonta.
Excitement was building in the team after it was announced Tuesday night that Oswego would get their rematch with New Paltz, the team that had beat them just a few weeks prior to give them their only SUNYAC loss of the season. It was Jeremiah Sparks’ early seven points that helped the Lakers take an 8-2 lead. After the first ten minutes of play the Lakers still held the lead, 25-17, with Jamal Achille scoring six of his own to help out. The final ten minutes of the half saw the Lakers find their stride, a 23-5 run saw seniors Julien Crittendon, Brendon Mulson, and Christian Simmons combine for eighteen points, and the both teams headed to the locker rooms with the Lakers leading 48-22. The Lakers shot an incredible 66.7% in the first half. Oswego went on another run coming out of the half, and with just under fourteen to play, Oswego led 62-30. Eleven points from Kaleb Cook and seven from Sean Edwards in the final ten minutes helped the Lakers close the game out, and get revenge on the Hawks with a 94-60 victory. Five Lakers reached double digit scoring, Julien Crittendon (15), Jeremiah Sparks (13), Devin Green (12), Jamal Achille (11), and Kaleb Cook (11). Jeremiah Sparks had four steals in the game and Devin Green had three, with Oswego having a total of 15 in the game. With the win they moved on to take on the Oneonta Red Dragons who beat Brockport, 64-54, in the other Semi-final matchup.
Brendon Mulson was the Lakers fast starter in the Championship bout, scoring seven of Oswego’s first nine en route to a 9-0 lead. Half way through the first frame, Oswego was doubling Oneonta’s score 18-9. By the end of the first half Jeremiah Sparks and Julien Crittendon had combined for eighteen points, and the Lakers led 38-19. Oswego reached fifty points and a thirty point advantage on the same play, a Julien Crittendon layup with fourteen minutes to go. With eight minutes to go Oswego’s lead grew to thirty-five. Oneonta showed fight down the stretch making five threes before the end of the game, but the Lakers victory was all but assured and the game ended 81-60. Jeremiah Sparks (18) was Oswego’s scoring leader, with Devin Green (15), Jamal Achille (11) and Julien Crittendon (10) all reaching double digits. Achille and Green had nine and eight rebounds respectively. This championship victory was the Oswego’s fifth in ten seasons. After the game Jeremiah Sparks, Jamal Achille, Julien Crittendon, and Devin Green were all named to the all tournament team, with Sparks being named tournament MVP.
https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-men/d3/2022
After the win, the Lakers were guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Division 3 Tournament. The selection show was Monday afternoon, with the Laker’s waiting to hear their opponent and where they would be playing. It was determined by the selection committee that Oswego would be one of three teams traveling to hosts Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA just outside of Philadelphia. Oswego’s first round matchup will be against Hood College from Frederick, MD, with the winner of that matchup playing the winner of Swarthmore and Keene State from Keene, NH.
Hood College plays in the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth. They came in second in their conference, beating the conference winner, Eastern University, 75-71 in the championship game. The Hood Blazers were 20-6 this season, going 14-2 in conference. Hood is led by senior brothers Mason and Evan Wang. Mason Wang led Hood with 22.4 points per game, while also contributing 5.0 rebounds per game, 3.5 assists per game, and 2.3 steals per game. Evan Wang is the second leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, also with 5.0 rebounds per game, and leading the team in assists at 3.8 per game. Christopher Smalls is their third highest scorer with 9.8 points per game. Hood averages 81.9 points per game, with teams averaging 74.1 against them. They shoot 44.5% from the field and 38.1% from three. The two sides have never played each other before.
The game against Hood College is Friday, March 4th. Tip off is set for 3:05 P.M. The winner’s of the two games will play Saturday at 5:35 in Swarthmore.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
BRACKET PROVIDED BY NCAA.COM
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Lakers women’s soccer with two shutouts this week to kick off the season
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State Women’s Soccer Team is looking sharper than ever as they steamrolled through both of their opponents this week. They headed to Cazenovia to challenge the Wildcats in their season opener. At the 17:30 mark in the first have sophomore Katie Delgrosso scored the first goal of the season for the Lakers and it was all downhill for Cazenovia from there. Freshman Cassidy Adamec would add to the Lakers lead right before the half scoring her first collegiate goal in a moment that will stay fresh in her mind for some time to come. The second half of the contest is where the game got out of hand with the Lakers scoring goals left and right showcasing how they are a force to be reckoned with this season. Graduate student Graisa Madden finished the day with a stellar two goals and one assist for the Lakers. Katie Delgrosso also put up two goals in this matchup. With a 7-0 victory in the books, the momentum was on their side as the lakers would face SUNY Canton this past Saturday in their home opener.
The Lakers resume against SUNY Canton is astounding. The Lakers have not let up a single goal in franchise history against this Canton team and the streak continued as they dismantled the Kangaroos in another 7-0 victory. The Lakers were firing on all cylinders from start to finish. Despite this impressive performance, the Lakers had some trouble finding the back of the net in the first half as Canton’s defense only let up one goal despite many opportunities for the Lakers. Similar to Thursday’s contest against Cazenovia, the second half is where things got out of hand. Freshman Briana Winkler had the home debut of a lifetime scoring her first two goals as a Laker in this game. Winkler was on fire the whole game and will definitely see the field a lot more in the coming weeks. Katie Delgrosso, Graisa Madden, and Luignina Serrao all had very impressive performances in this contest. The Lakers season goal total for their 2021 season was nineteen and with just two games in the books, they are already approaching that total with fourteen. The Lakers look to keep this momentum going as they take on Houghton University at 5:00pm this Tuesday.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
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Women’s Lacrosse: Playoff Preview
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego women’s lacrosse finished their season and finished in the fifth seed in the SUNYAC. The team finished the season with a 6-10 record going 5-4 in the conference. The Lakers started their season on a four game losing streak and only won two of their first ten games, but quickly turned it around. They won four of their last six games in a playoff push.
Oswego is led by a super six: Sela Wiley, Shea McConnell, Julia Quirk, Isabella Lembo, Madison Davis, and Logan Castiglione. Sela Wiley is the teams leader on offense, she had a team leading 37 goals and 15 assists. Shea McConnell was the teams other 30 goal scorer, having 32 on the season, also contributing four assists. Julia Quirk had 27 goals and 3 assists. Isabella Lembo had 28 goals and three assists, and led the team in shot percentage at .528%. Madison Davis had 24 goals and 23 assists, finishing with the second highest points (goals + assists) on the team. Logan Castiglione had 12 goals on the season, and a team leading 32 assists, finishing second in the conference. Freshman Sarah Kamide started all sixteen games in goal for the Lakers, having the third highest save total in the SUNYAC with 142, and had a save percentage of 43%, the seventh highest in the conference.
Oswego is set to play the #4 Oneonta Red Dragons on Tuesday May, 3 at 4:00 P.M. in Oneonta for the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs. The two teams last matched up on April, 2 and the Red Dragons came out on top 18-14. Sela Wiley had seven goals in the contest and Shea McConnell had five of her own. The Red Dragon’s Megan Foiles had six goals in the games, with three other players having four each. The winner Tuesday’s game will play the #1 seed Cortland Red Dragons.
IMAGE COURTESY OF WILLIAM ROGERS, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
