OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team lost their second consecutive game on Wednesday, falling to the Clarkson Golden Knights 18-4. With the loss, the Lakers now sit at 3-2 after starting the season off undefeated with three wins.
This game was certainly one the Lakers and Coach Britt Howard will look to forget about quickly. The Golden Knights were dominant from start to finish, shutting out the Lakers in the first half and giving up only 4 goals in over the course of the contest. Oswego was unable to generate much offense throughout the game. The Lakers took just 16 shots in the game, including only 5 in the first half. Although they went on a 3-goal run in the second half, the Golden Knight lead was too much to overcome. Sophomore midfielder, Sela Wiley, lead the team in goals once again (3), bringing her season total to 21. Freshman defender, Julia Quirk, also scored her second goal of the season in Wednesday’s contest. Clarkson was lead by Grace Hagberg, who totaled 4 goals on 6 shots. Junior attack, Sydney Roderick, also had a stellar game, scoring 3 goals and adding on 6 assists. Oswego has the chance to bounce back from this loss as they play the Brockport Golden Eagles on Saturday, April 17th for a SUNYAC West matchup. Face off is set for 1:00 PM at Laker Turf Stadium and WTOP 10 will have all the action.
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Where There’s Sparks, There’s Fire
Bethlehem, PA – The Lakers sailed down to Moravian College for the 40th Steel Club Classic picking up two wins on the perfect weekend. Their first matchup was against Montclair State who had scored over a hundred points in multiple games this season but couldn’t produce against the reigning SUNYAC championship defense of the Oswego Lakers. The Redhawks scored 73 points good enough for a season-low in their first 11 games this year, but it wasn’t a cakewalk win for the Lakers.
Montclair State ran a baseline to baseline trap on Oswego from the opening tip until the horn sounded at the end of the game. Senior Brandon Gartland shot 5 for 6 from beyond the arc exploiting no-easy-inside-bucket Redhawk defense. Junior Liam Sanborn finished the game with 22 points and helped control the pace of the game when Montclair began to chip away at the lead in the second half. Coach Leone expressed that Liam is “the guy who runs the show for us” and as good as he was on Saturday, it was a different story come Sunday.
Sanborn got into foul trouble early in the game against the Moravian College Greyhounds and didn’t see the floor much in the first half. Ending the game with 6 total points, Sanborn wasn’t the normal floor general for the Lakers. Freshman Jeremiah Sparks was the ‘spark horse’ on Sunday scoring 32 points bringing his total up to 50 on the weekend. Sparks plugged the hole in his offensive game after having five turnovers on Saturday against the Redhawks and Coach Leone was pleased with his performance.
“[Jeremiah] has obviously got some g-d given ability with his athleticism,” Coach Leone praised, “tonight might have been Jeremiah’s best game in terms of moving the ball when he was double-teamed.”
Sparks was also a presence on the defensive end tonight registering two steals and three monster blocks against the Hounds–the only three blocks of the game for Oswego. Freshman Kaleb Cook was in the backcourt with Sparks and he came up with a couple of clutch buckets and rebounds down the stretch. This turned out to be another point of emphasis for Leone regarding his comfort levels with the depth on his team.
“We finished the game with two freshman guards out there,” Leone said “so that’s pretty good for the future of our program. It was a great thing for them to be able to go through that experience especially during a win.”
Although, this win may have been a loss if it wasn’t for Joe Sullivan’s ability to flip the switch in the second half. Sullivan was non-existent in the first half ending without a bucket but through all of the adversity Oswego played against being in Moravian’s backyard, he finished with 22 second-half points.
“We challenged a couple of guys at halftime.” Leone expressed, “Like a senior should, [Sullivan] stepped up his game and played a great second half. We wouldn’t have won without him.”
Joe Sullivan finished with five boards to add to his second-half outburst and went 10 for 11 from the charity stripe. Funny enough, his missed free throw would be the ONLY missed free throw on the night for the Lakers. Oswego made 37 free throws on 38 attempts which helped seal the deal late in the game. Coach Leone was satisfied by their efforts at the line tonight.
“That was the thing I was most happy about.” Leone said, “I don’t know if we made that one we missed if it would be some kind of record for us. 37 out of 38 is pretty impressive and our guys deserve a lot of credit on that.”
Sullivan and Gartland combined for 21 of 22 at the free-throw line on Sunday night as the Lakers outran the Greyhounds winning by a score of 85 to 79 and improve to 7-2 on the year. The Lakers will play their home opener this Friday against Fredonia at 7:30 p.m. in Max Zeil Gymnasium, and look for Jeremiah Sparks to continue to produce as he grows into a future SUNYAC star.
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Women’s Hockey starts season hot in midwest
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State women’s hockey team took a road trip to the Midwest this weekend. The first game of the trip came against Adrian College in Michigan. Adrian College was undefeated in their last season before Covid stopped their chances at the national title. The Lakers would start the season hot with a 2-1 victory. The first period would see the Lakers get off six shots on target and Adrian have seven, but the period would end 0-0. Megan Teachout would open the scoring for the Lakers in the second period with an unassisted goal. Teachout would get the Lakers second goal of the night in the third period. The goal, assisted by Chyne Kennedy, would come on a power play. Adrian would score with less than a minute to go in the game to make it 2-1. Oswego Goalie Joanna Hiebert had a spectacular night in goal, recording 31 saves on 32 shots.
The second game of the weekend came against Trine University in Indiana. This was the first matchup between the two teams. The game wouldn’t start as well for the Lakers, as Trine scored half way into the first period with a power play goal to give them a 1-0 lead. The Lakers got on the scoreboard in the second period. A goal by Amanda Zenstein assisted by Philomena Teggart seven minutes into the second period would put momentum on the Lakers side. Megan Teachout got Oswego’s second goal of the night and her third on the weekend to make the game 2-1 Lakers in the third. Rachel Corbett had a good day in the face-off circle winning seven of her eight draws. Lakers goaltender Bryn White had sixteen total saves and one goal against in the victory.
The Lakers next game comes against Buffalo State at home on Saturday, November 6 at 3 p.m. where they open conference play in the NEWHL. Coverage will start on WTOP 10 at 2:30 p.m. with the pregame show streaming on wtop10.com/live and twitch.tv/wtop10tv.
Image provided by Shelby Peplowski, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Softball loses five over hard weekend matchups
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State softball team played six games over four days this weekend. A Friday double header in New Paltz against the Hawks was followed by a Saturday double header in Oneonta with the Red Dragons, the team had a day off Sunday, but played another double header at home against the Plattsburgh Cardinals Monday.
Friday’s first game in New Paltz saw the Hawks grab an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Two two-out singles were followed by a triple, bringing that brought both runners home to open the scoring. In the bottom of the second the Hawks would strike again. A two-out double was followed by a single. A throwing error would bring home the lead runner, and another triple would bring home the other runner. No more runs would be scored until the seventh inning, where the Lakers finally found the score sheet. Two one-out singles were followed by Madison Hoeflich reaching on an error, that would score the first runner of the inning for the Lakers. Ellie Mahoney then grounded out the the Shortstop, but would bring home another run. A Samantha Morgan double brought home the third run of the inning for the Lakers, but the scoring would end there, and Oswego fell 4-3. The Lakers only had four hits on the day, no batter having more than one, and a lone walk. Freshman Maria Lutz pitched all six innings for Oswego, allowing four runs, nine hits, two walks, and striking out two.
Game two of the double header was a more convincing win for New Paltz. The Hawks scored one in the first, but Oswego would match the run the second on a Ellie Mahoney single. Errors in the bottom half of the second brought home two more runs, and a two out double in the third brought home run number four for the Hawks. The bottom of the fourth was started by a single for New Paltz which was followed by a double driving home the run. Oswego got two consecutive pop-outs after, but a single drove home the sixth run. Oswego held New Paltz scoreless in the fifth, but three runs in the sixth triggered the mercy rule, and the game ended 9-1 in favor of the Hawks. Zoe Mennig led the Lakers with two hits, and Madison Hoeflich led the Lakers with two walks. Fiona Higgins had a rough day on the mound. She allowed fifteen hits, nine runs, eight earned, and walked three, she would strike out six.
The Lakers took the two hour trip to Oneonta for the Saturday double header. The Lakers found the scoreboard in the top of the first in game one. Tai Smith led off with a walk, and she was moved to second by a sac bunt. Taylor Dubois hit a double moving Smith to third, and a fielder’s choice in the next at bat scored the run. The Lakers held the Red Dragons scoreless until the third inning, when a lead off triple would be driven in by a sac fly to tie the game. Oneonta scored once more in the fourth inning, and twice more in the fifth. In the sixth, a two out single, then stole second and was driven in by a double. Oswego wouldn’t score in the seventh, and the game ended 5-1 Oneonta. Taylor Dubois led Oswego with two hits. Tai Smith got on base three times, a hit and a team leading two walks. Maria Lutz pitched all six innings once again, allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits and no walks, striking out two.
Game two of the second double header saw Oneonta grab a big lead in the bottom of the first, scoring four. The next run wouldn’t be scored until the top of the third, when Taylor Dubois hit a lead off double and was then drive in by Zoe Mennig’s double in the next at bat. A scoreless fourth was followed by a scoreless top of the fifth, and the Red Dragons broke the scoreless streak in the bottom of the fifth, crossing the plate once. Oneonta grabbed two more in the bottom of the sixth, and the Lakers, trying to rally could only manage one in the top of the seventh, a Zoe Mennig solo shot to left, and the Red Dragons took game two, 7-2. Samantha Morgan led the Lakers, going three for three at the plate. Zoe Mennig drove in both runs for Oswego. Madison Hoeflich got the start for the Lakers, but only pitched one inning, allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits, striking out two. Chelsea Sellars pitched the remaining five innings for Oswego, allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits, and four strike outs.
The Lakers took a much needed day off Sunday, and took to the diamond for two more Monday to take on the Cardinals of Plattsburgh. The Cardinals went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, and the Lakers struck first in the bottom half. The first two batters would get out, then Taylor Dubois and Zoe Mennig would reach on errors. Fiona Higgins drove in both with a double. The second inning was scoreless, and Plattsburgh grabbed their first run in the top of the third on an error. Two more scoreless innings brought the game to the sixth, where the Cardinals struck again. The Lakers committed two errors to start the inning, allowing two runners on base. A single by the next batter loaded the bases, and another single drove in the first run of the inning, second of the game for the Cardinals. A pop out to second got out number one of the inning, and a fly out to center got the second out, but also drove in the runner from third, for the third run of the game and the lead for Plattsburgh. Another single drove in the fourth run, and the walk that followed reloaded the bases. Another single brought home two more, and Plattsburgh got out of the inning with a 6-2 lead. Oswego wouldn’t score after the first, and lost the game. Fiona Higgins led Oswego with two hits and two RBIs. Maria Lutz pitched all seven innings, doing the whole game for the third time over the weekend. She allowed six runs, two earned, do to three errors on the Lakers. Lutz struck out four and walked three during the game
The Lakers finally turned things around in game two of the double header, and the final one of the weekend. The Lakers scored three times in the bottom of the first on hits by Zoe Mennig and Fiona Higgins. Neither team would score until Oswego did in the bottom of the fifth. Fiona Higgins drove in the fourth run for Oswego on a double, and in the next at bat, Madison Hoeflich brought in one more on a single. The Lakers scored two more in the inning on a single and a sacrifice hit, bringing their total to seven in the game. Zoe Mennig brought in one more run in the bottom of the sixth, triggering the mercy rule. Zoe Mennig went 4-4 at the plate, driving in two runs, and scoring two of her own. Fiona Higgins was the star of the day though. She went 2-3 at the plate driving in three runs, and pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six, while only allowing two hits and two walks.
The Lakers get the next three days off, until the play a double header Friday against the Brockport golden eagles at home, game one set to start at 3:00 P.M. They play their final series of the season against Geneseo at home Saturday with a double header. The lakers now sit a 9-22 (4-10 SUNYAC). They are currently eighth in the SUNYAC, two games back of Fredonia in the six seed, the final spot in the SUNYAC playoffs.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OSWEGO ATHLETICS
