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Oswego’s Men’s Lacrosse Team Set to Begin 2021 Season
OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Team is set to take on SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, March 20th to kick off their 2021 season. This will be the Oswego Men’s Lacrosse team’s first action in over a year due to the pandemic. However, unlike prior seasons, conference play is set to begin earlier than ever before, starting March 26th versus Geneseo. Senior goaltender Kevin O’Donnell understands just how important these early games are to set the tone for the rest of the season.
“With SUNYACs coming up so soon and those being the most important games for our team, the level of expectancy exceeds any other season in my opinion,” O’Donnell said. “Especially with the teams were playing, Morrisville, Oneonta, and then the rest of the SUNY division, it’s important that were on our A-game.”
O’Donnell is now a team captain and is looking to surpass 400 career saves in the coming games.
Being that this is the Lakers first game since March of 2020, it’s important that they eliminate any mistakes or confusion they might have. Head Coach Drew Bezek, who is going into his 7th season on the coaching staff, believes his team needs to master their game plan early on in order to be successful.
“With early season games, it’s always about limiting mistakes and doing what we need to do. A lot of times with the beginning part of the season, you’re not so worried about your competition and what they run. It’s us being super-efficient and consistent at what we’re trying to do.”
Although many things are different this season for the players, coaches, and staff, film sessions and scouting remain an important aspect of Oswego’s success. However, since teams only played a few games in 2020, the Lakers will have to anticipate Oneonta’s game plan based off what they saw from early last year.
Coach Bezek said, “We’ll treat this year similar to the past where for the first game of the year, your kind of going off tendencies from the previous year. We’re not going to know some of their new players, but from the film, we could try to piece together how they run their system.”
The Lakers have won their last four games vs. Oneonta dating back to 2016 and look to extend their win streak to five on Saturday.
Package Aired Thursday 3/18/21 on Nightly News
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Men’s basketball takes first SUNYAC loss
ONEONTA N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball team is one of the hottest teams in the country. Coming into the weekend they were undefeated in conference play, had only one loss on the season, and had won seventeen straight games. Oswego was set to go on the road to take on the New Platz Hawks and the Oneonta Red Dragons. They had taken on these two teams and blown them both out at home two weekends prior, they were hoping to do the same this weekend.
Their first stop of the weekend was New Paltz. When the teams played two weekends ago it was a one vs two matchup in the SUNYAC where the Lakers would come out on top, the Hawks wanted revenge for their loss. The game was close through most of the first half, the Lakers held a 13-10 lead after six minutes, were down 21-20 after eleven minutes, and finally grabbed a sustained lead around the seven minute mark, 25-21, on a Brendon Mulson three. A three from Ahkee Anderson with five to go would give the Lakers a 30-23 lead, but New Paltz would use the last five minutes to go on a 14-5 run and the half would end with New Paltz up 37-35. The teams traded baskets for most of the second half, a Jeremiah Sparks three with twelve to go gave the Lakers a six point lead, the largest lead for either team in the half. A Sparks dunk with four minutes left gave the Lakers a four point lead, and then the Hawks would score the next six points to give them a 62-60 lead. Devin Green would go to the line and make the first but miss the second, a rebound on the miss by Brendon Mulson led to a Sparks layup to give the Lakers a one point lead. With fifteen seconds left New Paltz hit a layup to go up one and then got a steal to hand Oswego their first loss since November 23, 64-63. Jeremiah Spark led the Lakers with fifteen points, with Ahkee Anderson contributing twelve and Jamal Achille ten.
Game two of the road trip came against Red Dragons of Oneonta on Saturday. The Lakers looked to make up for the loss the night before and move on. Devin Green was the leader for the Lakers from the tip. He scored the ten of Oswego’s first twenty points on way to a 20-10 lead after eight minutes. The game was back and forth the remaining twelve minutes with Jeremiah Sparks hitting the final shot of the half for either team around the two minute mark. The teams would head to the locker rooms with Oswego leading 31-23. Oswego grew their lead to eleven four minutes into the second half on a Kaleb Cook three. With just under seven minutes left they grew the lead to fourteen, 56-42. Oneonta would go on a 9-0 run to close the gap to five before five straight points from Brendon Mulson would seal the game. Two free throws from each team saw them get to the final score of 63-53. Devin Green led the Lakers with nineteen points and eight rebounds. Jeremiah Sparks was the only other double digit scorer on the Lakers with ten of his own. Jamal Achille and Brendon Mulson both had nine points.
With the win Saturday the Lakers clinched the top seed in the SUNYAC tournament. Their record is now 21-2 (15-1 SUNYAC). They sit 14th in the national rankings as of Monday February, 7. Oswego has the final two games of their season next weekend, the first on Friday February, 18 vs Brockport at home. WTOP10 will have coverage of both games on YouTube and Twitch.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY WILLIAM ROGERS, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Hockey is back in full swing
OSWEGO — It’s that time of year again! It’s Hockey Season! As both the Oswego State Men’s and Women’s teams will take the ice this weekend at home in exhibitions. The women will get it started at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, going up against the London Jr. Deviletes. The men will then follow at 7 p.m., as they host Nazareth College. Saturday will also see the opening of the new History of Hockey display in the arena, which will pay homage to Laker’s hockey, past, and present.
