The Oswego State Softball team takes the field Monday, March 22nd, for the first time since May 4th, 2019. The Lakers go on the road to take on RIT in a Monday afternoon doubleheader slated to take place at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. The Lakers nearly 700 day off season is shown in roster changes. Four of the 14 girls who appeared in the most recent game, against Cortland in the SUNYAC playoffs are on the roster this year. The 2021 Oswego softball roster features ten newcomers along with seven upperclassmen who return from the 2019 team. The upperclassmen on the team will have a big leadership role this year because the two classes have not seen game action in their college careers.
The Tigers of RIT also have not yet played a game this season, but they were able to play ten in 2020 when they went 7-3 overall. The Tigers feature a very experienced team with nine upperclassmen plus two graduate students. Oswego starts their season with four games in Rochester, with two games against RIT at 3:00 and 5:00 Monday, March 22, as well as 1:00 and 3:00 Sunday March 28 at St. John Fisher. All of these games are non-conference as SUNYAC play does not start until April 1st.
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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
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Women’s hockey breaks winless streak with big win
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego women’s hockey team got an extra day of preparation and rest for Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Potsdam after Friday’s game got postponed that was supposed to be played against SUNY Canton. The Lakers came in on a three game winless streak, but they snapped that with a dominant 5-0 victory over the Bears for the Teddy Bear Toss game. The first Lakers goal came nine minutes into the first period on the power play, where a shot from Avery Webster would be saved, but the rebound fell to Morgan Shines who put it in the back of the net. The Lakers wouldn’t score again in the first period, but dominated the second period, putting it past the goalie three times. The second goal of the game was off of another rebound, the initial shot was by Megan Teachout, with Ariella Haas cleaning up for her first of three points in the game. Teachout scored the third goal, deking through defenders on a four on four to score a spectacular goal. The third goal of the period came on the power play again, with Mack Hull winning and putting away a scramble in front of the net. The Lakers defense proved their prowess in the second period, shutting down a 5 on 3 situation at one point, and goalie Joanna Hiebert stopping a 2 on 1 break away at another point. Oswego’s final goal came in the third period, on the power play again, Simone Bednarik scored with assists from Chyne Kennedy and Ariella Haas. The Lakers were dominant all game, winning the shot battle 53 to 7, and going 3-4 on the powerplay while keeping Potsdam to 0-5.
The Lakers next game comes against William Smith on Tuesday at the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. Coverage will start 6:45 p.m. on WTOP 10.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY SHELBY PEPLOWSKI, WTOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Laker Volleyball sweeps Golden Flyers
OSWEGO — The Lakers defeated the Nazareth Golden Flyers in a quick three sets on Wednesday at the Max Ziel Gymnasium. The Golden Flyers came into the match 9-8 with a steady 3-1 away record. Lauren Fie and Julia Flohr led Oswego with two long serving runs that secured the first set. They would need to battle back in the other two sets to sweep Nazareth and improve to 14-6 overall. Shauna O’Flaherty, Senior, stood out with 13 kills and 2 blocks along with Lauren Fie’s 3 aces throughout the match. The team looks to take the recent success on the road for a 4-game road trip that starts with Plattsburgh this Friday. Oswego still has six matches SUNYAC games left before starting SUNYACS in early November.
