OSWEGO, NY — Wednesday evening, the Empire 8 Conference announced the cancellation of their fall sports for the Fall 2020 season. This unanimous decision came due to concerns of COVID-19 and the safety of student athletes. The sports that will be canceled are cross country, field hockey, football, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball. The conference has come out and stated that these sports will be given the opportunity to place in the Spring 2021 season if COVID-19 is less of a threat.
Although a majority of the Oswego State teams compete in the SUNYAC conference, Men’s golf is one of the few sports that is in the Empire 8 Conference. Oswego is an affiliate member of the conference, as the SUNYAC does not have a Men’s Golf Championship. The Lakers compete against Utica College, St. John Fisher College, Sage College, Elmira College, and Nazareth College in the Men’s Golf Championship. With the team playing half of their tournament in the fall, and half in the spring, the cancellation will affect the team for a portion of their season as of right now. Wresting is the only other Oswego State team in the Empire 8 conference.
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Oswego State women’s hockey with two impressive performances this weekend
OSWEGO N.Y. — It was an exciting weekend for women’s hockey here at Oswego. The Lakers hosted the Buffalo State Bengals Saturday night in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena in hopes of staying undefeated. They did just that and won in dominant fashion with a final score of 8-1. The Lakers offense was electric combined with their spectacular defensive performance. Despite this impressive victory, the Lakers found themselves down by 1 at the end of the first when senior Angelina Cruzzal put the Bengals on the board. From there the Lakers were relentless, not letting their opponent score another goal. Freshman Mack Hull scored her first goal as a Laker tying it up early in the second. Less than 2 minutes later, sophomore Kyleigh Grugin scored with an assist by Emily Gustafson. Morgan Shines added to the lead with 10 minutes left in the second. The Lakers were on a tear in the third period scoring 5 goals and shutting the Bengals down. Goals in the third from Rachel Corbett, Kyleigh Grugin, Morgan Shines, Sophia Kyrkostas, and Mia Conboy sealed the victory. With this dominant win the Lakers kept the undefeated streak alive with a record of 3-0 heading into Sunday’s contests.
The Lakers hosted SUNY Potsdam today in an overtime thriller resulting in a 4-4 tie. It was a battle from start to finish, with both teams refusing to lose. The Bears started off strong, scoring the first two goals of the game. Kaylee Merill put the Bears on the board with an assist from Emily DellaNeve. Stephanie Dunlap added to the lead shortly after. The Lakers were still very much in this game and proved it when Amanda Zenstein scored immediately following the face off. Cheye Kennedy then tied it up for the Lakers with four minutes remaining in the first period. The action continued in the second period as Potsdams’ Stephanie Dunlap scored her second goal for the Bears. The Lakers answered back minutes later with a goal from sophomore Kyleigh Grugin. With less than two minutes remaining in the second Potsdams’ Emily DellaNeve scored to break the tie. Fans were in for a showdown in the third. Amanda Zenstein found success once again with a goal early in the third period on the powerplay. From there it was a defensive battle until the end of regulation. With a tie game, the two teams were headed into overtime. Despite many close calls, neither team was able to seal the win and this game ended in a tie with great effort from both sides.
After this weekend, Oswego currently holds first in the NEWHL with three points posting a 1-0-1 conference record. The Lakers will travel to SUNY Cortland Friday with more conference points on the line in the NEWHL. Puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m. in Cortland.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY SHELBY PEPLOWSKI, WTOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Laker Field Hockey drops game to defending SUNYAC Champions New Paltz
OSWEGO — Field Hockey hosted the defending SUNYAC Champions, New Paltz, this past Saturday. The Lakers hold the Hawks to a 2-1 score up till halftime. Once the 3rd period begins, New Paltz began to turn on the heat and netted four more goals by the end of the tilt. The lone Oswego goal, scored by Alyssa DeMichael, was a deflection from a shot sent in by Abby Testo. The ladies look to bounce back as they travel to Oneonta on Saturday Oct. 5th for another SUNYAC battle.
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Oswego State men’s basketball take three wins on the road
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Lakers took a full week of games head on, winning all three games they played including two huge scoring outputs. The first game of the week came on Tuesday against the Buffalo State Bengals in Buffalo, the final score a whopping 109-72, the first of two times they would score 109 this week. The game started close, 11-10 after five minutes with Devin Green connecting from deep twice. Oswego would take off from there, a 19-5 scoring run with six points from Ahkee Anderson and ten from Christian Simmons saw the lead grow to 30-15. The Lakers would score 24 more over the next ten minutes, and would go into the half with a commanding 52-32 lead. Oswego was an excellent 54.3% from the field in the first half, and 47% from beyond the arc. The second half was just more Oswego domination, the lead wouldn’t fall below twenty, and was up to forty with a minute to go. A few garbage time points from the Bengals saw a final score of 109-72. The Lakers were led by twenty-two from Simmons, who added eight rebounds. Green added seventeen to the score line, 5-10 from three on the night. Anderson and Jamal Achille had fourteen and twelve respectively. Four other lakers would have more than eight points.
Game two of the week came on the road against the Potsdam Bears. A tighter contest on the scoreboard saw Oswego win 76-58. The Lakers would find themselves down one after ten minutes. Devin Green helped keep it close with a pair of threes early. A Jeremiah Sparks lay-up would cap off a 12-2 Lakers run that would take the lead for Lakers, 29-20. The Lakers and Bears would go back and forth the remainder of the half and would go into the locker rooms with Oswego up 40-29. The Lakers capitalized on turnovers scoring twelve of their points on seven Potsdam turnovers. The Bears didn’t let the lead grow too much to start the second half, the score was 51-36 after the first five minutes. Ahkee Anderson would assist on back to back baskets and the lead would grow to nineteen. With seven minutes remaining in the game, the Bears had cut the lead to only seven. Successful threes and good defense helped the Bears get back into the game. Julien Crittendon would hit a three to extend the lead back to ten and take momentum back from Potsdam. The Lakers would use the momentum to close the game out for the final score of 76-58. Crittendon would lead the team in points with seventeen. Jamal Achille had sixteen on the night while sharing the rebound lead with Sparks at nine. Sparks would add twelve of his own.
The final game of the week was against the Plattsburgh Cardinals in Plattsburgh. It was domination again for the Lakers as they won 109-70. Plattsburgh took four of the first six points before the Lakers took the reigns of the game. Eighteen straight points over four and half minutes saw the Lakers take the lead that would last the rest of the game. The Lakers had over half their points in the first half, going into the locker rooms up 62-31. The Lakers utilized their bench during the half, with 38 of their points being from the bench. The defense was also on the point forcing sixteen turnovers. The Lakers extended their lead to 45 over the first eight minutes of the second half. Both teams would go back and forth through the rest of the game and get to the final of 109-72. Five Lakers would hit the double digit scoring mark, freshman Marcus Shelton leading the team with fourteen off the bench. Christian Simmons added thirteen points and seven rebounds, with Devin Green, Jeremiah Sparks, and Kaleb Cook all with ten. Ahkee Anderson and Brendon Mulson added nine each. 66 of the Lakers points came from the bench. The team shot 53.8% from the field, while also an excellent 16-20 from the free throw line.
Oswego’s winning streak now sits at ten games and they have a record of 13-1 (7-0 SUNYAC). Coming into the week they sat just two spots out of the top 25 with 28 points, number 25, Emory, has 40 points. Their next game is against the Geneseo Knights in Oswego on Tuesday, January 18. Geneseo is second in the SUNYAC also undefeated in conference play at 6-0 and are 8-4 on the year.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
