OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday morning, Senior Michael Gillespie of the Men’s Hockey team signed a professional contract with the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, the East Coast Hockey League. The Railers are affiliated with the New York Islanders and are located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Michael Gillespie tallied 24 points (6 goals and 18 assists) in 25 games played during his senior season with the Lakers. The Laker would play three seasons in Oswego, each season finishing with a minimum of 24 points and putting a career high 26 points up his junior season. The forward finished with a career 74 points (23 goals and 51 assists) in 76 games played. The 5’ 8” New York native will fill a play maker role for the Railers as he prepares with his new team. Gillespie, along with recent signee James Anderson from Mercyhurst University, will join the group ahead a three game weekend featuring two home games. Both players are expected to make their professional debuts this weekend. The Laker will wear number 20 for his new team.
The Worcester Railers are currently last in the North Division with 46 points through 61 games played. The 21-36-4 group are set to play two divisional games against the main Mariners, who are currently in 4th, with a home-and-home series set to be played Friday and Saturday. The Railers will have puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center against the Mariners before traveling to Portland for another 7 p.m. matchup on the road. Worcester will then travel back home to welcome the Norfolk Admirals for a Sunday matinee game at 3 p.m. for an out of conference game. The Admirals are currently last in their given division with only 36 points in 60 games played. Of course, with the current state of the COVID-19, these games may not be played due to the league postponing competition. The NHL is set to announce their plans for action moving forward, and usually the ECHL along with the AHL will follow suit to their parent league.
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Women’s Lax Achieves 12-Win Season For the First Time in Seven Years
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
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Women’s LAX spark second half comeback taking down Hawks
OSWEGO, NY- The Lakers battled through some poor weather conditions this Saturday along with having to come from behind to win their first SUNYAC Conference game of the season.Kate McNally would get the Lakers on the board first in the game as she scored with 4:44 seconds into the game. New Paltz would answer back six minutes later as Morgan Atwater would score to tie the game at one. Two minutes later the Hawks would score again as Shannon Brosnan would give the Hawks the lead. The Lakers would answer back as Julia Quirk would tie the game at two right near the end of the first quarter. Morgan Atwater would score her second goal of the game to put New Paltz up 3-2. Sela Wiley would score her 90th career goal of her career to put the Lakers down 5-3. The Lakers would struggle in the second quarter giving up three goals and found themselves in a tough position down 5-3 at half.
In the second half, the Lakers would go on a explosive offensive attack erasing the halftime deficit. Isabella Lembo would cut the deficit to just one with 12:05 left in the third quarter. Shea McConnell would tie the game with 9:32 left in the third. McConnell had a three-goal performance in the third quarter which helped awaken the Lakers offense. Sela Wiley scored her second goal of the game with 9:44 left in the fourth quarter to put the game out of the reach for the Hawks. The Lakers would go on a 8-0 run in the second half as the Hawks had no answers to the Lakers comeback. New Paltz’s goalie Gabrielle Tommasso who played well in the first half only giving up three goals but in the second half she gave up eight goals along with allowing 18 shots. Oswego’s goalie Sarah Kamide cleaned up her performance from the first half and didn’t allow a single goal for the rest of the game.
With the win the Lakers improve to 6-2 on the season and improve their overall record against New Paltz to 15-2. The Lakers are looking for their best record against SUNYAC opponents this season since the 2003 season where they finished 10-8 and going 7-1 within the conference. The Lakers have tied their win total from last year just eight games into the season. Last year the Lakers went 5-4 in the SUNYAC as they will face off against Fredonia on Wednesday, March 29th at Laker Turf Stadium. Lakers look for their first 7-2 start since the 2016 season where they lost to Cortland 19-10 in the SUNYAC Outdoor Championship. The Lakers face off against a Fredonia squad who sits at 5-4 on the season currently where the Blue Devils got beaten up by the Oneonta Red Dragons 17-6 this Saturday. Blue Devils Sophomore Erin Woods reached the 100-point club this weekend against the Red Dragons and she scored four goals in the game. Last season the Lakers defeated the Blue Devils 19-4 and they are 15-10 against the Blue Devils all-time. Oswego hasn’t lost to Fredonia since the 2015 lacrosse season 11-10.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Baseball opens SUNYAC play with weekend series sweep
Endwell N.Y. — The Oswego State baseball team took to the road this weekend to take on the New Paltz Hawks for a three game set to open their SUNYAC play. They played two games Saturday, winning both, and took the series topper on Sunday. Saturday’s first game saw the Hawks grab an early 2-0 lead. A lead of single and then a one out walk got two men on the base paths, a two out double drove both runs home. The Lakers finally found their swings in the third inning. Back to back one out doubles saw the Lakers grab their first run of the inning. After a fly out, an error on the Hawks saw the second runner get home. A walk followed by a single and another walk saw the Lakers load the bases, and then Julien Drew would send them all home with a grand slam. They Lakers ended the inning with the lead 6-2. The next inning saw the Lakers put three more on the score board. A lead off double, followed by walk and single saw the Lakers load the bases for the second inning in a row. Julien Drew would come back up to the plate with two out and this time hit a double to drive in three, his fifth, sixth, and seventh RBI’s of the day. In the fifth Ryan Enos would drive out his sixth homer of the season, this one a two run shot, to put the Lakers up 11-2. Oswego got another run in the sixth. In the seventh the Lakers would hit another two run shot and drive in a third to put the lead to 13, 15-2. Oswego’s staters, Anthony Van Fossen, was relieved to start the eighth, he gave up six hits, two runs, and walked three. With Van Fossen out of the game, New Paltz found a grove. Back to back singles, followed by a single loaded the bases with none out in the inning. A fielder’s choice at third saw one run cross the plate, and left men at first and second. Another fielders choice saw the Hawks have men at first and third with two outs. A single scored one, and that was followed by bunt to load the bases. A passed ball saw their fifth run score, and a wild pitched scored their sixth. No runs would be scored for the rest of the game and Oswego won, 15-6. Oswego finished the game with 20 hits, six doubles, and three homeruns.
Game two of the double header was a the exact opposite of game one. The Lakers were the first to find the scoreboard. Paul Tammaro led off with a walk for the Lakers. New Paltz got two outs, but Tammaro stole second and third in the process, he scored on single. Both teams went scoreless on through the top of the fifth. In the bottom half, Ryan Enos led off with a walk, he moved to second on a Kyle Lauria single, and scored on Lukas Olsson double to left, for the Lakers second run. The Lakers held the Hawks scoreless over the final two innings and won 2-0 in the seven inning bout. The Lakers were held to four hits, but walked six times. Paul Tammaro stole four bases in the game. New Paltz was held to three singles and a lone walk in the game.
The third game of the series was played Sunday. The Lakers grabbed the early lead again in this game. A Ryan Enos single in the bottom of the first followed by a Kyle Lauria walk brought Lukas Olsson to the plate. He smacked a double into left and drove in both runners for the 2-0 lead. A one-two-three top of the second was followed by a lead off double by Jacob Levine in the bottom half. A single moved him to third, and he scored on a double-play. The Lakers kept their momentum going and Paul Tammaro singled with two outs. He moved to third on an error, and Enos walked to have runners at first and third. Lauria tripled driving in both, and he then scored on an Olsson single. Oswego left the inning up 6-0. New Paltz grabbed one in the third, but Oswego answered with one of their in the bottom half. A scoreless fourth was followed by a five run fifth for the Lakers, a CJ McCarthy three run shot, and a Lauria two run single. Oswego also got one in the sixth, a lead off solo homer by Sam Allen. The Hawks got their second run in the top of the seventh. New Paltz got one in the top of the eight, and in the bottom of the eight, Oswego grabbed one more too. The game ended with Oswego winning 14-3. Oswego had 18 hits and seven walks in the game. Kyle Lauria led the team with four RBIs, with Lukas Olsson and CJ McCarthy both having three.
The Lakers now have a 13-3 (3-0 SUNYAC) record. They are currently 20th in the national poll. Their next game is Wednesday against St. John Fisher in Rochester, and that’s followed by three game set with the Plattsburgh Cardinals on Friday and Saturday.
