OSWEGO N.Y. — It was a rough Wednesday evening for the Lakers as they couldn’t get anything to click on Laker Turf Stadium. The Lakers took on a very good Geneseo team and at the end of the day, simply got outplayed. With the score after the first quarter being seven to two, the chances for a Laker comeback already looked slim. Oswego’s star players Sela Wiley and Shae McConnell were not able to get anything going in this contest, with McConnell only coming out with one goal and Wiley being scoreless on the day. Sophomore Isabella Lembo was able to shine in this contest with two goals out of the six that were scored. This made her the lead scorer on the night. The Lakers look to recover from this tough loss when they host SUNY New Paltz at 12 p.m. this Saturday. Catch it live on WTOP10!
Image Provided by Oswego State Athletics
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Lakers men’s basketball wins SUNYAC tournament for 2nd straight year
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Lakers had a big past weekend as they hosted the SUNYAC tournament on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The Lakers first started their tournament hosting the number five seeded New Paltz Hawks Friday afternoon for the SUNYAC Semifinal match. Early on Oswego struggled to connect on their shots and the game stayed tight as both teams went back and forth in the first seven minutes of play. The Hawks started gaining momentum around the 12 minute mark which forced Coach Leone to take a timeout trailing 12-15. Defense was the key of the first half, as both teams struggled to put the ball in the net. The Lakers forced five turnovers on defense, while holding the Hawks to just 35% from the field. Oswego dominated the glass with 10 offensive rebounds in one half. Despite the struggle from the field, the Lakers would take a two point lead going into halftime, leading 27-25. Cartier Bowman and Jeremiah Sparks both went into the half with 8 points.
After nothing was going for Oswego in the first half they were desperately looking for answers. That answer was Devin Green who hit three of his six three point attempts in the first eleven minutes of the half bringing the lead to 49-44. Jeremiah Sparks connected on two straight baskets extending the Lakers lead to nine with just five minutes remaining in the game. Green continued to put the team on his back and connected on his fifth three of the second half with just under 2 minutes to seal the game. The Lakers ended up holding on with a 73-68 win to move to the championship game. Four Lakers recorded double digit points that evening Sparks had 21,Green had 17, Bowman had 13 and Cook had 12. The Lakers advance to their second consecutive SUNYAC title game with a five point win over the Hawks and would face SUNY Brockport on Saturday evening for a chance at the SUNYAC championship.
The Lakers returned Saturday to the Max Ziel to try to win back to back games against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The first half went the way the Lakers wanted as the Lakers defense forced 12 turnovers against the Golden Eagles and the Lakers led 46-33 at half. Ahkee Anderson went 6-7 from the field, including a three pointer in his hot start with14 points in the first half.
The second half started out the same for both teams with Brockport starting to slowly creep back into the game. Brockport cut the lead to six with just over ten minutes remaining taking over the full momentum in the half. Both teams then continued to score back and forth, with Oswego maintaining the six point lead over the next eight minutes. With less than two minutes remaining, Ahkee Anderson continuing his big game hit a big jumper from the right baseline to give Oswego a 69-61 lead forcing Brockport to call timeout. After Brockport failed to score at the other end coming out of the timeout, the Lakers took advantage with a long offensive possession with an offensive rebound turning into a slick Jeremiah Sparks step back mid-range jumper to seal the SUNYAC. Oswego would continue their 21 game win streak with 74-63 win. Oswego wins their second straight SUNYAC Championship in a row marking Coach Leone’s sixth SUNYAC Championship in 11 years.
Three Lakers were honored in the trophy celebration and as a part of the SUNYAC Team: Devin Green, Jeremiah Sparks and Cartier Bowman who won the SUNYAC Tournament MVP with a 15-point 13-rebound double-double.
The Lakers are now 25-2(17-1) and will now host a NCAA pod on March 3rd and 4th. They will play Marymount (VA) in the round of 64 at 5:45. John Carroll and Albertus Magnus will be playing the Neutral game.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Oswego State Falls to Cortland in SUNYAC Championship
CORTLAND, N.Y. — In a thrilling three game SUNYAC Baseball Championship Series that featured 11 lead changes between the two teams, the Oswego State Baseball team was defeated by Cortland. Oswego took game one from Cortland in a late comeback fashion, but Cortland won game two in extra innings and game three to take the series. Cortland outscored Oswego 25-23 between the three games, which featured one run wins for each team in games one and two and a two run win for Cortland in the deciding game.
Game one was tied 2-2 after four innings, Kieran Finnegan had some early command issues surrendering four walks which resulted in two runs in the first inning while allowing just one hit in the frame. Finnegan bounced back well, giving up no hits in the next three innings and just one walk. Oswego’s two runs came in the top of the second on a Hunter Holliday RBI double and Julian Drew RBI single. Cortland put up two runs on four hits against Finnegan in the 5th which led to Anthony Van Fossen entering the game for the Lakers. Van Fossen was brilliant out of the bullpen as the junior threw 3.1 hitless innings for the Lakers. SUNYAC RBI leader Kyle Lauria trimmed the deficit to one run with an RBI single in the 7th, and the Lakers kept going with a big two out rally in the 8th. Oswego scored three runs in the 8th as Myles Felton scored on a wild pickoff throw to tie it, Brendon Frank singled in Paul Tammaro, and Ryan Enos followed with an RBI double to score Frank. Mike Di Salvo came in to pitch the 9th but gave up a leadoff home run to make it a one run lead for the Lakers. Di Salvo had the tying run on third base, and the winning run on second with no outs but got back to back flyouts to finish the 7-6 game one Oswego win.
The highest scoring game of the weekend came in an 11-10 extra inning walk off win for Cortland. Game two featured 31 total hits and three home runs for each team, as it was Tammaro, Ryan Weiss, and Felton each hitting long balls for the Lakers. At least one team scored in all ten innings, as Cortland had a four run and multiple three run frames scoring in bunches, but Oswego scored more consistently with one or two runs in seven of the ten innings. Frank and Weiss led Oswego’s offense as both of the seniors contributed four hits apiece. After ten innings and a ton of offense, it was Scott Giordano from Cortland with a walkoff home run forcing a decisive game three the following day.
Oswego and Cortland had identical runs scored in each frame from the 1st to 4th, as the game was tied 5-5 after four innings. Oswego scored one in the top of the 5th but Cortland answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame that would be the tying and eventual winning run, before tacking on an insurance run in the 6th. Enos was 3-4 with a home run, a double, and 4 RBIs in the final game of the series but it was not enough as Cortland took game three 8-6 to win the SUNYAC Championship.
The season is not over yet for Oswego as the Lakers got an at-large bid into the 48 team NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. There are eight separate locations with six teams at each site; the winning team from each of the eight sites will compete in the Division III World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Oswego was selected to be the second seed at the Hartford, Connecticut Region which is being hosted by Trinity College (Connecticut), a team that Oswego was scheduled to play against earlier this year. The teams in order of seeds 1-6 playing at the Hartford Regional are Southern Maine, Oswego State, Wheaton (Massachusetts), Salve Regina, Husson, Johnson & Wales (Providence). This is Oswego’s sixth consecutive season qualifying for the Championship, and the Lakers are looking for their first World Series appearance since 2018. Games will take place Thursday, May 27th through Sunday, May 30th and Oswego will play their first game at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Image Provided by Alexis Fragapane, Lexi Fragapane Photography
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Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse Prepares for Clarkson University
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team is set to play their second non-conference game of the season, taking on the Clarkson University Golden Knights on Wednesday, April 14th. The Lakers won their previous non-conference game vs Morrisville State in a 20-14 victory.
Oswego is coming off their first loss of the season, so they’ll look to rebound vs the Golden Knights. They were defeated by the Geneseo Knights 22-9 on April 12th, which dropped them to 3rd in the West division. Clarkson is entering the matchup on a four-game losing streak, with their most recent loss being a 5-11 defeat to William Smith College. Lakers leading scorer, Sela Wiley, will look to continue her hot streak vs Clarkson. She’s totaled 18 goals on the season and has a .500 shot percentage in 2021. Freshman midfielder, Shae McConnell, will also look to continue her stellar start as she has 13 goals and 2 assists this season. Though, they’ll have to contend the explosive Clarkson offense. The Golden Knights will be lead by junior midfielder and leading scorer, Grace Hagberg, who’s totaled 13 goals. Senior attack, Krysten Stone, is also having a great season. She leads the team in total points, including 11 goals and 5 assists. Oswego is 12-11 all-time vs Clarkson University, however the Golden Knights won their last matchup 9-5 in 2020. Faceoff is set for 4:00 PM at Laker Turf Stadium.
