OSWEGO, N.Y — Oswego State Volleyball kicked off conference play this past Tuesday in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. The Lakers were swept by the Red Dragons of SUNY Cortland. The opening set was close until a 7-2 Cortland run which extended their lead to 18-12. Oswego kept the second set interesting as the Lakers trailed the Red Dragons 22-21 after serves from freshman Cara Simpicio. The outside hitter led Oswego with eight kills and 11 eleven digs over the course of the match. After a pair of errors from the home squad, Cortland would take set two. In the third set, the two teams were tied at 13-13 prior to a 6-0 service run from Cortland that led the Red Dragons to their first conference victory of the 2021 season. Oswego State falls to 0-1 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference. The Lakers will travel to Fredonia Friday, September 24th, for their second conference matchup of the season.
However, the Lakers will host a tournament this coming weekend in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Oswego kicks off action against Elmira Friday night at 8:00 p.m. before hosting SUNY Canton and St. John Fisher on Saturday. Oswego State Volleyball fans can check out all the action on WTOP 10!
Image Provided by Alexis Fragapane, Oswego State Athletics
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Men’s Basketball moves on to the Semifinals
OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Basketball battled Cortland Tuesday night in the first round of the SUNYAC Championship. The 74-67 final featured a Laker comeback in the second half as the team outscored the Red Dragons 44-30 to secure the win. Junior Liam Sanborn had a large part in the comeback as the guard put up 26 points in his 38 minutes play to lead the Lakers. Senior Joe Sullivan secured six field goals in his 38 minutes played as well. This win eliminates the Cortland Red Dragons who were the fifth seed in the playoffs.
Oswego now looks ahead to the Semi-Final round in which the team will have to travel to Brockport to face off against the number one team. The nationally ranked Golden Eagles are scheduled to battle the Lakers at 7:30 p.m. upon the finish of the other game between Oneonta and Potsdam. The winners will play each other at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Brockport.
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Oswego State women’s hockey comes up short against Plattsburgh this weekend
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — It was a rough weekend for the Lakers as they suffered two unfortunate losses, one being a NEWHL game. The Lakers went on the road to take on Plattsburgh State in their first meeting of the weekend. They were hungry for victory and proved it when they went up 3-0 in the first period. Just nine minutes into the contest senior Chyne Kennedy put the lakers on the board with an assist from Mia Conboy. Sophomore Rachel Corbett added to the lakers lead with eight minutes left in the first. Just before the first period came to an end, Sophomore Sophia Kyrkostas scored with assists from Simone Bednarik and Ariella Haas capping off a dominant first period. It was all downhill after the first as the Lakers lost the momentum they had built up, eventually letting up six goals by the end of the contest to conclude Plattsburgh’s three point victory.
The Lakers went back to work against Plattsburgh State the following day in hopes of getting some revenge after their heartbreaking loss. During the first period it was neck to neck with freshman Ashlyn McGrath putting the Lakers on the board just two minutes into the contest. With six minutes into the first Plattsburgh tied the game up. From there the momentum was in their favor and the Cardinals went on to score two more goals in the second. Down two goals the Lakers tried to make some magic happen and pull off a comeback, unfortunately they couldn’t get anything cooking and ultimately lost 4-1. The Lakers look to bounce back after these two losses when they go on the road to play William Smith College this Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. in Geneva. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State women’s hockey team.
Image Provided by Oswego State Athletics
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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.
