OSWEGO, N.Y. — After a 12-5 loss versus Brockport on April 16, the Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team looks to find their first win of the condensed 2021 season with a battle against the Geneseo Knights. Although the Lakers have not won a game this season, they hold the record in history against the knights with 22 wins and 21 losses with the first matchup being in 1980. This will be the first game of a home and home series against Geneseo as they are scheduled to play the Knights on Saturday, April 24 at the College Stadium in Geneseo.
The history between these two teams have been extra competitive with their last matchup being in 2019 due to the cancelled season in 2020 and yielding a Knights win by a score of 14 to 13 despite a second half 10 goal push by the Lakers. Oswego is 2-8 since 2010 versus Geneseo in general and 10-11 at home against the Knights in history. As the Lakers look to salvage what is left of their season with three games remaining, they will turn to freshman midfielder Lucas Cloch who leads the team in points with 6 goals and 4 assists as well as rely on the man in between the pipes Kevin O’Donnell. The senior looks to stay strong to wrap up his career at Oswego State with 55 saves already on the season. Today’s SUNYAC West division matchup is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Laker Turf Stadium with WTOP 10 covering all the action from today’s contest.
-
Women’s basketball split weekend matchups
OSWEGO, NY- The Lakers ended up splitting their games this weekend as they won on Friday against Plattsburgh but lost on Saturday to Potsdam.The Lakers started off the weekend with an impressive performance against the Plattsburgh Cardinals winning 53-48. The Lakers would lead 12-7 halfway through the first quarter with Sydney Hoefs scoring five points in the first quarter. The second quarter saw the score tied three times with the Lakers leading 33-28 at the half. Chastin Giles would have nine second quarter points. She would lead the Lakers at the half with 11 points. Oswego would go 63.64% in the second quarter and went 66% from the three-point line.
The second half saw the Lakers extend their lead to 40-28 early in the third quarter. The Cardinals would rally at the end of the third to only trail by seven. The Lakers struggled from the field in the third quarter as they were only 26.67% from the field in the quarter. The Lakers would extend their lead to ten early in the fourth as Sydney Hoefs connected on her second three-pointer of the game to give the Lakers a 45-35. A late rally by the Cardinals would fail as the Lakers would hold off Plattsburgh. Hoefs would lead the Lakers on the day with 15 points a season-high for her and Chastin Giles would post a season best 13 points in the game.
The Lakers would then take on the Potsdam Bears on Saturday but would lose 64-33. The Lakers would trail early 4-0 and would trail 19-14 at the end of the first quarter. Sydney Hoefs would lead the Lakers at the end of the first quarter with five points. The Lakers had immense struggles from the field only shooting 28.57% in both the first and second quarter. Potsdam fared from much better from the field shooting 42.86%. Giavanna Principio-White would lead the Lakers at the half with six points. The Bears would lead the Lakers 31-19 at the half.
The second half was a continuation of the first half with more struggles for the Lakers. The Lakers would only shoot 11.11% from the field, their worst shooting % from the field in a quarter this season since their game against Geneseo only January 24th only managing to shoot 13.33%. Oswego managed to only score three points in the third quarter while allowing Potsdam to score 16 more points as the Bears lead by a huge margin 47-22 at the end of the third. The fourth quarter began with Principio-White connecting on a three-pointer but the Lakers still trailed 47-25. Oswego would lose 64-33 to Potsdam which was their eighth straight loss to the Bears and their worst loss to them since they first faced off in 1971.
The Lakers will host the New Paltz Hawks on Friday, February 3rd at the Max Ziel Gymnasium at 5:30. The Lakers face a Hawks squad who have won 12 games in a row this season and are on of the top two teams SUNYAC . The Lakers will look to end a ten-game losing streak to the Hawks. New Paltz beat Oswego 74-47 this season back on January 21st.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
-
Men’s Basketball takes pod, moves on to sweet sixteen
SWARTHMORE P.A. — The Oswego State Men’s basketball team took the the road last weekend to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. After Monday’s selection show it was announced that they would play Hood College of Frederick, Maryland in the first round, with the winner moving on to take on the winner of Swarthmore and Keene State of New Hampshire.
Oswego and Hood were the second game in the entire tournament to tip off, with the time set for 3:05 Friday afternoon. Jamal Achille started the scoring for both sides with an early three, but that was quickly followed by six straight points from Hood for an early 6-3 lead. The two sides kept it close throughout the early part of the first half, but the three point barrage from Hood’s Evan Wang saw them grab a nine point advantage, 25-16, with nine to play. The Lakers then found their stride, an 18-2 run to end the half saw them go to the locker rooms up 34-27. Evan Wang had 18 of Hood’s 27 in the first half. The teams traded baskets to start the second half, with Oswego extending their lead to just ten, 47-37 with just under 14 minutes to play. Hood then went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five, and after a made Oswego basket, hit a three to cut it to four. Then the Laker’s hit their stride again, a 14-2 run saw the lead jump to 66-50 with seven and a half minutes to play. Hood fought the rest of the game, but the lead never dropped below nine for Oswego, and the Lakers moved on to the round of thirty-two with a 82-73 victory. Jamal Achille led Oswego with 20 point and 12 rebounds, nine of them offensive. Four other Lakers had nine or better in the points column, Devin Green (17), Jeremiah Sparks (10), Brendon Mulson (9), and Julien Crittendon (9). Evan Wang (21) came in second in points for Hood to his twin brother Mason Wang (23).
Keene State won the other matchup in the pod over hosts Swarthmore, so the two sides met Saturday afternoon for a chance to move into the sweet sixteen. Jamal Achille picked up where he left off and scored nine points in the first six minutes, with Ahkee Anderson contributing four, to give the Lakers a 13-10 lead. Devin Green found his scoring stride, scoring seven of Oswego’s next 12 to give them a 25-14 lead with seven to go in the half. The Lakers kept pushing, and by halftime they led 48-28. Jamal Achille and Christian Simmons each had 13 in the half, with Anderson and Green both having nine. Keene State was led by Octavio Brito who had 12. Jamal Achille hit the twenty point mark with 15 still to play on a two-handed slam down low, and Oswego had a 57-32 lead. Keene State then went on a 19-9 run to close the gap to 15 with just under eight minutes in the game. Keene State cut the lead to 13 with 5:10 to go. Oswego hit a couple of shots to push the lead back to 18, and then both sides went scoreless for a little over two minutes. Hunter Cole had five of Oswego’s last seven in the final minute of play, and Oswego moved on with another win, 84-63. Jamal Achille again led the team, this time with 22, and Ahkee Anderson had his season high with 17. Christian Simmons added 16 of his own off the bench, and Devin Green had 11 to close out the Lakers in double digit scoring. Octavio Brito led Keene State in scoring with 24, and Mason Jean-Baptiste had 19, no other players had over 5 five points.
The Lakers and their fifth ranked defense now head to Marietta, Ohio to take on the Marietta Pioneers in the sweet sixteen. Marietta hosted the first two rounds of play as well, beating Madaille College 91-79 in the first round and the University of Rochester 88-83 in the second round. Marietta is led by 17.3 point-per-game scorer, senior guard Jason Ellis, who had 25 in the first round, but was held to only 10 in the second. Their second leading scorer is senior guard Lukas Isaly who averages 15.3, he had 15 in the first round, and had a game high 33 vs Rochester. They also have two other ten plus point scorers in seniors Tim Kreeger and Mason Lydic, who average 11.8 and 10.8 respectively. Marietta is 20th in the country in team scoring at 84.7 points per game. The winner of this matchup plays the winner of Christopher Newport University of Newport News, Virginia and Stockton University of Galloway Township, New Jersey.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
-
Oswego State Baseball Travels to Cortland for SUNYAC Championship
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Oswego Baseball goes on the road to Cortland for the SUNYAC Baseball Championship on Friday, May 21st at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., with a game three on Saturday, May 22nd at 12:00 p.m. if necessary. Oswego and Cortland have not played against each other the past two seasons, but the teams are familiar with each other as this will be the fifth straight tournament that the Lakers and Red Dragons meet in the finals. Cortland won the tournament back in 2015 and 2016, but Oswego claimed the crown in 2018 and 2019. Weather cancelled the 2017 tournament resulting in top seeded Oswego to be crowned the champions, and COVID cancelled the 2020 tournament. Oswego will look to claim its 16th overall title and 4th in a row, while Cortland seeks its 35th overall championship.
Friday’s games will also mark the first time there have been fans permitted at a SUNYAC game since March 2020, as SUNY Cortland campus is now open to visitors and New York State has reduced restrictions on social distancing. Fans will only be able to attend if they are on an official list collected by the conference office. Each school was allowed to submit a list of 150 fans, bringing the game total to 300 spectators. Since the attendance is below 500, spectators do not need to provide a negative COVID-19 test or show a vaccination card. Fans are required to adhere to CDC, New York State, and SUNY Cortland COVID-19 guidelines.
#21 Oswego comes in at 23-3 (14-2 SUNYAC) after a 8-2 and 11-4 sweep over Oneonta in Oswego last weekend in the semifinals. Cortland, ranked one spot behind Oswego comes in at #22 nationally with a 25-5 (14-2 SUNYAC) record. Last weekend Cortland also got a semifinal sweep in the form of 11-4 and 3-1 wins over Brockport. There have been eight weeks of the season, which means eight SUNYAC Baseball Athlete of the Week awards, as well as eight SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week awards. Oswego has claimed four of the sixteen awards in the form of three position players and one pitcher, and Cortland has won five awards by four position players and one pitcher.
Oswego takes on Cortland in the SUNYAC Baseball Championship at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 21st at Cortland. If necessary, game three will be played on Saturday, May 22nd at noon. The winner gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which kicks off next week.
Image Provided By William Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
