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Oswego State men’s soccer sneaks into SUNYAC playoffs
OSWEGO, N.Y. — It was a wild weekend for Division III Soccer. This past Friday the 12-3-0 New Paltz Hawks went on the road to battle it out with the 5-5-4 Oswego State Lakers at Laker Turf Field. New Paltz came out victorious after a goal in the 88th minute to secure this 2-1 win. New Paltz had just suffered a loss to Buffalo State on the 16th that was still fresh on their mind. The Lakers started off strong with Sophomore Kieran Gilroy scoring a goal in the 11th minute thanks to an assist by Junior Ryan Young. The Lakers were able to prevent New Paltz from scoring in the first half. The game heated up in the second half with two huge goals from New Paltz to seal this 2-1 victory. New Paltz Freshman Gino Mazzella tied it up in the 49th minute with a shot into the left corner. With both teams hungry for a victory, it was a defensive battle until the final minutes. In the 88th minute New Paltz Sophomore Tim Kane put this game away after a free kick by Joseph DiPreta resulted in a header goal. The Lakers would go on to face Oneonta the next day.
The Lakers hosted the 10-3-3 Oneonta Red Dragons Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lakers were hungry but would fall short after a hard fought game. Oneonta’s strong performance resulted in a 2-0 victory. They came out guns blazing and scored both of their goals in the first 30 minutes. Freshman Francesco Posillico would score the first goal of his college career in the 15th minute. This was followed up just 15 minutes later with a goal by Senior Matt Howe after an assist from Junior Lucas Fecci. Oswego was unable to bounce back after these 2 early goals, but put up a great fight. The Lakers secured a 6th seed spot in the SUNYAC Championship where they will go head to head with Oneonta on the road in a must see rematch October 30th.
Image provided by Will Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Men’s basketball finishes the season with two wins
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball team finished their season this past weekend. Having already clinched the first seed for the SUNYAC tournament, these games were just momentum builders for the tournament. The Lakers were set to play the Brockport Golden Eagles and Fredonia Blue Devils, both games at home.
Friday night’s game against Brockport started close, 8-7 after five minutes. Then Oswego found their rhythm, a 13-0 run saw the lead jump to 21-8 with thirteen minutes left in the half. Jamal Achille made it a twenty point lead with just under four minutes remaining, 39-19. The Lakers biggest lead in the half was twenty-four with fifty seconds remaining, and by the end of the half Brockport closed the lead slightly to 49-29. The Golden Eagles attempted to bring it back multiple times in the second half, but Oswego always answered. Brockport got the deficit to seventeen with just under fourteen minutes left, and the smallest gap in the second half, fifteen, with nine and a half to go in the game. Oswego reached eighty points with three minutes to go in the game on an Ahkee Anderson free throw, and from there the reserves checked in to finish the game. Oswego scored three more times after Anderson‘s free throws and won the game 87-63. Five Lakers found double digit scoring in the game, Ahkee Anderson (16), Jamal Achille (16), Devin Green (13), Julien Crittendon (12), and Christian Simmons (11). Green also added ten rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
The final game of the season was against the Fredonia Blue Devils. Before the game stared the Lakers recognized their seven seniors, Brendon Mulson, Christian Simmons, Eric Sanfilippo, Jordan Brown, Hunter Cole, Julien Crittendon, Louis Fedullo. Simmons, Sanfilippo, Cole, Crittendon, and Fedullo were the starters for the game, while Mulson and Brown were the first two off the bench. Christian Simmons stole the show early, he hit two three and had two layups for the Lakers first ten points while the Blue Devils only had six just three minutes into the game. An 11-0 Lakers run behind four from Jordan Brown and Jeremiah Sparks saw the lead get to 21-6 with thirteen to go in the half. Oswego kept pushing the gap with the lead 27-10 after a Kaleb Cook layup with ten to go in the frame. Just under the seven minute mark was when Oswego reached the forty point mark on a Julien Crittendon three, and the lead was twenty-five. Another nine from the Lakers and ten from the Blue Devils before the end of the half saw both teams head to the locker rooms, Oswego up 49-25. Simmons started the second half exactly where he started the first, he had twelve points in the first five minutes of the half, and Oswego’s advantage ballooned to thirty-four, 67-33. Oswego reached eighty on an Ahkee Anderson jumper with eleven and a half to go. The biggest play of the game came with nine minutes remaining, Jordan Brown tipped a three point attempt by Fredonia’s Aaron Collins, Jamal Achille grabbed the ball and threw it up court to a wide open Brown who slammed it down with one hand to extend the lead to 84-37. With seven to go, the Lakers reserves checked in to finish the regular season. They got Oswego over the century mark for the fourth time this season and second time this month and Oswego walked away victorious in their final game, 104-55. Christian Simmons led the Lakers with his season high twenty-four points. Two other Lakers went were over ten, Julien Crittendon (12) and Jeremiah Sparks (11). Sixteen Lakers found the score sheet.
Oswego finished the season with a record of 23-2 (17-1 SUNYAC). They hold the first seed in the conference and will host both semi-final matchups and the finals for the SUNYAC tournament starting Friday. WTOP10 will have coverage of all games played on Oswego’s campus.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY DIANA VITALE, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Logan Castiglione and the Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse Team
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Following their unprecedented 2020 season, the Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse team has started their 2021 season off strong, securing victories against Morrisville State, Buffalo State, and SUNY Fredonia. The Lakers have won decisively in each of their victories thus far, lead by the outstanding play and leadership of junior midfielder, Logan Castiglione.
Castiglione is playing in her first lacrosse season since her senior year of high school and it doesn’t seem like she’s missed a beat. Through six games she’s totaled 11 goals and 11 assists, including a 5-goal performance vs. Morrisville State in her first game in over 3 years. Being that Logan is one of the more experienced athletes on the team, she believes it’s important for her to take on a leadership role this season. She states, “I really just try to keep myself composed. Since I am older, I try to be a leader more on the field.”
The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team is 3-3 so far this season and although they’re currently on a 3-game losing streak, Coach Britt Howard believes this team has what it takes to make a postseason run. Howard has been coaching Women’s Lacrosse at Oswego since 2016 and she sees a lot of potential from this year’s team, especially from Logan Castiglione.
Coach said, “Logan just started joining out program this year and she really had a great start for her first game with us, so that was huge for her.”
Though the Lakers are in good position to qualify for SUNYACs, they must continue to build on their team chemistry in order to ensure a successful season, something Castiglione has emphasized to her team. She states, “Throughout the first couple weeks that I’ve been playing, we’ve been talking about teamwork, communication, and how much team chemistry is important on and off the field.”
Castiglione and the Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team have the opportunity to improve to 4-3 as they take on Buffalo State on April 18th.
