OSWEGO, NY — The Lakers fell short to Saint Mary’s University Friday night due to a stellar performance in net by Al Rogers for the Cardinals. The 1-0 score line featured Oswego out shooting the Cardinals 30 to 22 and dominating in the face off circle 38 to 17 thanks to forward Anthony Passero. This loss is the first of the season in the Marano Campus Center and snaps their three game win streak that came out of SUNYAC play. Moving forward, the tenth ranked Lakers continue in the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic tomorrow night against the #9 University of New England Nor’easters who fell to #14 Williams College earlier in the day. The Cardinals and Ephs will do battle at 4 pm for the Pathfinder Championship.
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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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Lakers Wrangle Mustangs in Dominant Offensive Performance
MORRISVILLE, NY- The Lakers winning streak to start the season continues at three in a row after wrangling the Morrisville Mustangs 21-5.The first half was an offensive show for the Lakers as the Lakers scored 15 points in the first half. It didn’t take very long at all for the Lakers to score as they scored 47 seconds into the game as Isabella Lembo scored unassisted. Madison Davis and Isabella Lembo would both score two goals in the first quarter. The Mustangs turned the ball over five times in the first quarter and four out of the five times led to a goal for the Lakers. The Lakers led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was just as a dominant of a performance for the Lakers as the first quarter. Sela Wiley would score her second goal of the game with 13:48 in the second quarter. Freshman Noelle Smith would score her third goal of the season 32 seconds later. Madison Davis would then score her third goal of the game to put the Lakers up 11-0. The Lakers would end the second quarter with Madison Davis scoring goal number four of the game and Shae McConnell scoring her second goal of the game. Both goals would come after Morrisville penalties. The Lakers would lead 15-0 at halftime.
The second half saw the Lakers continue their domination of the Mustangs. Shae McConnell opened the third quarter with her third goal of the game. With 12:54 in the third quarter, the Mustangs would finally get on the board as Alana McDonald would score her fourth goal of the season. Julia Quirk would then score back-to-back goals for the Lakers to put the Lakers up 18-1. Sela Wiley with 6:04 left in the second quarter scored her fourth goal of the game as both Madison Davis and Sela Wiley had four goals for the game. A foul on Sofia Mangino led to Aria Treadway scoring her third goal of the season but the game was out of reach for the Mustangs.
The Lakers dominance cooled down in the fourth quarter as they only scored two goals. Ashley Casserly scored her second goal of the season to put the Lakers up 20-3. Alexis Hill would then score the final goal of the game with 26 seconds left as she scored her first goal as a Laker. The Lakers would win 21-5 over the Mustangs in their best offensive outing of the season. Madison Davis would have her third game of the season where she would score four or more goals in a game. The Lakers are out to their best start of the season since the shortened 2021 lacrosse season where they finished 4-5 and where they opened their season against Morrisville winning 20-14. With the way the Lakers are performing right now, they are on pace for their best season since the 2019 lacrosse season where they finished 11-5 and where their season that year ended with a 18-5 loss to Geneseo in the SUNYAC Outdoor Championship.
The Lakers travel to Rochester to take on St. John Fisher College on Wednesday, March 15th at Growney Stadium. The Cardinals sit at 2-1 on the season after a 11-9 win over Colorado College after playing two games at Colorado College last week. The Cardinals lost their first game of the season in their first game last Wednesday at Colorado College losing 9-7 to Messiah University a team who currently sits a 4-1 on the season. The Lakers have not beaten St. John Fisher in almost 17 years as their last win against them came in the 2006 lacrosse season. The Lakers last played St. John Fisher last season and lost 11-4. The Lakers look for win number four and a 4-1 start to a season since 2019.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Men’s basketball starts season with tournament win
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OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball team competed in the Max Ziel Tournament this weekend. They played the first game on Friday night, beating Elmira College handily 85-51. They would play the second game on Saturday, winning the tournament in a closer contest against Hobart College 63-48.
Friday night’s game against Elmira started close. Oswego State led 6-4 after five minutes before a 10-0 run would help the grow a lead they wouldn’t give up. Another eight points from Laker senior guard Julien Crittendon gave Oswego a 25-6 lead with ten still to play in the first half. The first half would end 42-19 Oswego. Elmira had a more successful second half, scoring thirty-two points, but Oswego would score another forty-three of their own, for the final score of 85-51. Crittendon was the Lakers leading scorer with fifteen points, with freshman Ahkee Anderson the only other Laker with over ten points at twelve. Fourteen Lakers would score on the night. Anderson also contributed three assists. Junior guard Devin Green lead the team in rebounds with nine. Oswego shot 50.9% from the field on the night.
The second and final game of the tournament was against Hobart college. An opening three pointer from Hobart was answered by a 16-0 run by the Lakers over eight minutes. Fourteen of the Lakers sixteen came from junior guard Kaleb Cook and sophomore guard Jeremiah Sparks. The first half would end 35-20 Oswego. The Lakers pushed the lead to twenty-one early in the second half but Hobart would pull it back to eleven with three to play in the game. Oswego would play solid defense and hit their free throws to close out the game and win 63-48. Kaleb Cook led the Lakers with twenty-two points and Jeremiah Sparks had fifteen of his own. Senior center Louis Fedullo led the Laker with eight rebounds. Kaleb Cook was named tournament MVP and Julien Crittendon was named to the all-tournament team.
Oswego State plays Clarkson at 7:30 p.m. in the Max Ziel Gymnasium on Tuesday November, 16th. WTOP 10 will have coverage starting at 7:30 p.m.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY WILLIAMS ROGERS, WTOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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