Lakers Basketball defeats Cortland in close battle

OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Basketball came away with another SUNYAC victory Saturday night against the Cortland Red Dragons. The Lakers would win 68-66, thanks to Jeremiah Sparks would lead the offense with 31 points. He had a career-high 11 made field goals during the contest. Oswego secured the lead in the first half and kept the Red Dragons out of the lead as Cortland missed a 3 pointer in the dying seconds to drop the game and fall to 3-3 in conference play. The win continues to keep the Lakers in the hunt for the top spot in the SUNYAC standings.

The Lakers are back in action Tuesday night following the Women’s Basketball game. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Oswego welcomes in Oneonta, who is currently right behind the Lakers in the standings but has the same conference record of 5-1. This will be an important game for the Lakers as they fight for the top spot in the SUNYAC.

Post Views: 100

Oswego Men's Basketball

Post Views: 581

Sports SUNYAC

Women’s Lax Achieves 12-Win Season For the First Time in Seven Years

By Logan Stolberg — 3 years ago

OSWEGO, NY- The women’s lacrosse team had a successful weekend as they won both games including achieving their highest win total in a long time.

In the Lakers first game, they defeated the Buffalo State Bengals on the road 16-10. It only took the Lakers 24 seconds to score as Shae McConnell got the Lakers on the board first. Two minutes later Julia Quirk scored for the Lakers to make it 2-0 with the Lakers scoring two goals within the first 3:23 seconds of the game. The Bengals would finally get on the board as Vanessa Willick would score two goals within 1:14 seconds to cut the Bengals lead to two with Oswego leading 4-2. Julia Quirk and Shae McConnell would add two more goals to make the score 6-2 at the end of the first quarter. Sarah Fineour would score two goals to open the second quarter for the Bengals to cut the Lakers lead to two at 6-4. Isabella Lembo would score to make the score 7-4 and the Lakers would add two more goals towards the end of the second quarter to make the halftime score 9-5. Shae McConnell would lead the Lakers at half with three goals.

The Bengals would rally off three straight goals within the first 2:09 seconds of the opening of the third quarter to rally back down 9-8 to put the Lakers on the edge of their seats. The Lakers would go on a 5-0 run to end the third quarter as Julia Quirk would score two goals in the quarter. The Lakers would lead 14-8 at the end of the third quarter. Quirk would have four goals entering the fourth quarter. Seven minutes went by without both teams scoring until Julia Quirk scored with 8:14 left to give the Lakers a 15-8 lead. Buffalo State would answer back to make it a nine-point game as Sarah Fineour would score her third goal of the game to cut the Lakers lead to six. Julia Quirk would seal the deal for the Lakers with 6:58 remaining to make the score 16-8. Quirk would lead the Lakers on the day with a career-high six goals. Buffalo State would score late but the Lakers would win 16-10. The Lakers improve to 11-3 which ties their best record since the 2019 lacrosse season.

The Lakers were able to carry their momentum from their last game into their game against the Oneonta Red Dragons. The Lakers managed to win 16-13. Isabella Lembo and Sela Wiley got things going for the Lakers early with two goals within the first 1:56 seconds of the game. Three minutes later Isabella Lembo would score back-to-back goals for the Lakers to put them up 4-0 with 9:27 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Dragons would respond immediately after as Mason Benevuto scored the first goal of the game for the Red Dragons to make it a 4-1 game. Julia Quirk and Sela Wiley would score two goals at the end of the first quarter to give the Lakers a 6-1 lead. Shae McConnell increased the Lakers lead to six with 11:38 remaining. The Red Dragons would go on a 3-0 run in 4:02 seconds with the Red Dragons scoring with 2:20 seconds left in the first half to cut the Lakers lead to four at 9-5. Madison Davis would score with 20 seconds left in the half to give the Lakers a 10-5 lead at halftime. Isabella Lembo would lead the Lakers with three goals for the first half.

Sela Wiley got things started for the Lakers scoring just 55 seconds into the second half. Isabella Lembo would then score three consecutive goals in a row as she would still lead the Lakers on the day with six goals as the Lakers would lead 14-5 with 7:42 left in the third quarter. The Red Dragons would then score two goals as Lindsay Townes and Marissa Evans would cut the Lakers lead to seven. Katie Fierro would increase the Lakers lead to eight with 2:08 remaining in the third. Cassidy Moore and Olivia McCabe would then add two goals at the end of the third quarter to put the Red Dragons down 15-9. The Red Dragons would then score 56 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 15-11. Isabella Lembo would score the final goal of the game for the Lakers as she would add her seventh goal of the game. The Red Dragons would then go on a 3-0 run towards the end of the fourth quarter as Cassidy Moore would score twice and Lauren Mancini scoring once during that run. The Lakers would take care of the Red Dragons 16-13 as Oneonta would fall to 5-9 on the season.

The Lakers win game number 12 of the season which is their highest win total since 2016 where they finished 12-4. Their next win would be their most wins in a season in their program’s history. The Lakers now face their toughest challenge of the season traveling to Cortland on Wednesday, April 26th to take on the Red Dragons who sit a first in the SUNYAC after beating Geneseo on Saturday 14-8. The Lakers will look to pull off a major upset in the SUNYAC along with getting their first ever win against Cortland all-time in their programs history as they stand 0-32 against the Red Dragons all-time. Last season, the Lakers lost 17-4 to Cortland and have been outscored by the Red Dragons all-time by a score of 172-527. The Lakers at the moment stand as the third seed in the SUNYAC standings as they will likely face off against the Red Dragons once again in the SUNYAC Playoffs Round One at home but this is still TBD at the moment.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP-10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT

Post Views: 581
Post Views: 211

Sports

Oswego State men’s lacrosse extends win-streak to four

By Luke Rosenthal — 4 years ago

OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s lacrosse team defeated Utica 18-8 on Wednesday, earning their fourth straight victory. This also marks the Lakers second-straight game with a double-digit margin-of-victory.

Oswego started the game off strong, going up 1-0 off a Weston Gray goal with 11:52 remaining in the opening quarter. Just two minutes later, sophomore Ryan Eccles scored his first of many goals throughout the contest to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. After some back-and-forth runs, Gray scored two consecutive goals, earning a hat-trick less than 10 minutes into the game. Utica responded with their first goal at the 4:52 mark, but quarter ended with the Lakers up 5-1 after Gavin Elson found the back of the net. Oswego’s scoring onslaught wouldn’t stop there, however, as the Lakers netted nine unanswered goals over the next 20 minutes of regulation. During that stretch, Eccles, Gray, and Elston continued to explode offensively along with Ryan Dumont who got on the board at the 11:23 mark of the third quarter. Oswego went up 14-1 at one point before the Pioneers responded, scoring on back-to-back opportunities. However, the Lakers kept their foot on the gas as they netted another three goals to take a 14-point lead, their largest of the game. Utica won the fourth quarter, outscoring Oswego 5-1, but it simply wasn’t enough to overcome the big deficit. The Oswego State men’s lacrosse team won 18-8 and improved their record to 5-2 on the season.

Oswego had a total of seven players score against Utica, including five-goal performances from Weston Gray and Ryan Eccles and a four-goal outing from Gavin Elston. Although, their offensive efficiency came as a direct result of great ball movement. The Lakers had three player total multiple assists including Corey O’Connor (4), Liam Sexton (4), and Max Brodman (3). Oswego State played tremendous defense too as they caused 31 turnovers and held Utica to just 26 shots. Following this victory, Oswego is now tied for first place in the SUNYAC with SUNY Brockport. With SUNY Potsdam coming to town on Sunday, the Lakers will look to extend their win streak to five, which would match their longest win streak since 2018. Faceoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Laker Turf Stadium.

Image Provided By Oswego State Athletics Department

Post Views: 211
Post Views: 189

Sports

Oswego State women’s lacrosse falls in opening round of SUNYAC tournament

By Luke Rosenthal — 4 years ago

ONEONTA, N.Y. — On Tuesday, the Oswego State women’s lacrosse team traveled to Oneonta to take on the Red Dragons in the first round of the SUNYAC tournament. In the back-and-forth contest which saw six Lakers total at least two points, Oswego would end up falling to the home team 14-12.

To open up the first five minutes of play, Oneonta came out firring quickly, putting up three consecutive goals. Though, it was at the 7:15 mark of the quarter when Julia Quirk scored her first of many goals on the day on a player-up opportunity. Four minutes later Isabella Lembo would continue the Lakers scoring run, finding the back of the net off a picture-perfect pass from Sela Wiley. In the final two minutes of the opening frame, both teams put in another goal. For Oswego, it was Logan Castiglione who — like many games this season — showed her playmaking prowess, setting up Shae McConnell to bring the score to 4-3. Within a minute of the second quarter, Oneonta answered back to the late goal scored by the Lakers and brought their lead to 5-3. Then once more at the 12:56 mark, the Red Dragons got another one passed Sarah Kamide to take a three-goal lead. From here on, the momentum started to shift towards the Lakers. Madison Davis found a Quirk cutting through the lane for a goal to make the score 7-5 with &:34 remaining in the half. Then much like the first quarter, Oswego got another late goal before the closing buzzer. With 40 seconds remaining, Wiley added her second assist of the game on a pass to McConnell, cutting the deficit to just one goal at the break.

It was key for Oswego to carry that momentum into the third quarter and that’s exactly what they did. Just 16 seconds into the second half, Wiley added another assist, finding an open Castiglione to tie the game at seven. However, the Red Dragons were not going to give up that easy. Oneonta kicked it up a notch, scoring the game’s next three goals spanning from 14:13-11:47. This put the Red Dragons up 10-7. At the 11:02 mark, Castiglione got her third point of the afternoon as she set up Davis for her first goal. Following this, Oneonta started to pull away little by little. At the 9:03 mark, the home team took a 12-8 lead after scoring two straight goals. Oswego was able to chip away at this lead before the end of the quarter as Quirk put in another goal with 1:45 remaining. This brought the contest back to a three-goal difference heading into the final quarter. Less than two minutes into the fourth, Oneonta scored once more to take a 13-9 lead. Shortly after, Quirk scored again following a caused turnover by Lembo. Although, the Red Dragons fired back at 9:15 to regain their four-goal lead. Oswego scored the final two goals of the game, but those final two goals of the game would end up being the final two goals of the season for the Lakers. Oswego wasn’t able to find the back of the net over the final three minutes and Oneonta would go on to win 14-12.

Statistically, the game was relatively even. Oswego barely trailed the Red Dragons in total shots (29-28), but did have two more turnovers in the game (19-17). Where things weren’t even, though, came in the ground ball department where Oneonta was extremely efficient (23-14). The Lakers had a total of six players rack up at least two points including Julia Quirk (6g), Sela Wiley (5a), Madison Davis (2g, 2a), Logan Castiglione (1g, 2a), Shae McConnell (2g), and Isabella Lembo (1g, 1a). Sarah Kamide also brought in 10 saves throughout the contest.

Although it isn’t the outcome the team or Coach Howard wanted, this season was a success for the Lakers. This season marked the first time Oswego made the playoffs since 2019, over three years ago. This was also the first time Oswego had a winning record in the SUNYAC conference (5-4) since that very season. In the 2021 season, one of the Lakers biggest problems was that they were too reliant on Sela Wiley to generate offense and score goals. However, Oswego completely flipped the switch and were much more efficient in 2022. The Lakers saw five players total more than 20 goals this season as opposed to last year where they only had one. This — in part — was due to the meteoric rise of Julia Quirk, who put up 35 goals this season which was 30 more than she had in 2021. Oswego was also much better at setting teammates up for success this year. Logan Castiglione once again led the team in assists, this time with 34 which was more than double the amount she had last season (15). Finally, Oswego saw great production from freshman goalkeeper Sarah Kamide. In her first year with the team, Kamide totaled 152 saves and more impressively, play every second of every game this year, solidifying herself as the Ironwoman the Lakers will need moving forward.

Through a hard fought season, Oswego was able to put together a much improved 2022 campaign. Although the outcome could have been more favorable, the team put on some mightily impressive performances. With only one senior graduating this year, the Oswego State women’s lacrosse team looks to be intact for the foreseeable future. And with the talent this team possesses currently, the future is brighter than ever for the Lakers.

Image Provided By Oswego State Athletics

Post Views: 189