OSWEGO, N.Y — Oswego State Volleyball kicked off conference play this past Tuesday in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. The Lakers were swept by the Red Dragons of SUNY Cortland. The opening set was close until a 7-2 Cortland run which extended their lead to 18-12. Oswego kept the second set interesting as the Lakers trailed the Red Dragons 22-21 after serves from freshman Cara Simpicio. The outside hitter led Oswego with eight kills and 11 eleven digs over the course of the match. After a pair of errors from the home squad, Cortland would take set two. In the third set, the two teams were tied at 13-13 prior to a 6-0 service run from Cortland that led the Red Dragons to their first conference victory of the 2021 season. Oswego State falls to 0-1 in the State University of New York Athletic Conference. The Lakers will travel to Fredonia Friday, September 24th, for their second conference matchup of the season.
However, the Lakers will host a tournament this coming weekend in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Oswego kicks off action against Elmira Friday night at 8:00 p.m. before hosting SUNY Canton and St. John Fisher on Saturday. Oswego State Volleyball fans can check out all the action on WTOP 10!
Image Provided by Alexis Fragapane, Oswego State Athletics
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Women’s Basketball Ends Season on High-Note
OSWEGO, NY – The women’s basketball team split their games this weekend to finish the season including their final win of the 2022-2023 season.
Friday’s game concluded with the Lakers losing to Brockport 53-49 in overtime. Very little happened in the first quarter as both teams struggled from the paint. The game started out with Brockport’s Anna Felice making a three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. After that little happened between the two teams. The score was tied twice in the quarter with the Golden Eagles taking a 7-5 lead over the Lakers after quarter one. The Lakers went 20% the field and the Golden Eagles went 15.38% from the field. The second quarter was the same story as the first quarter. The quarter began with Chastin Giles making her first three-pointer of the day with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Less than 40 seconds later Sydney Hoefs would connect on her second three-pointer of the day to put the Lakers up 13-7. Juliana Logana would extend the Lakers lead to eight 15-7. The Golden Eagles would rally but the Lakers would lead 19-16 at halftime. Julia Logana and Sydney Hoefs would both lead the Lakers with six points at the half.
The third quarter would start with Zairea Hannah scoring to put the Golden Eagles down by one. The Lakers would respond about 30 seconds later with Caitie Lilly scoring to extend the Lakers lead to 21-18. The Golden Eagles manage to come close to taking the lead away from the Lakers but the Lakers held strong. Brockport struggled from the field in the second quarter going 3-16 and shooting 18.75%. The Lakers led 33-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Logan Castiglione helped extend the Lakers lead to ten connecting on a three-pointer with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter. Anna Lee would tie the game for the Golden Eagles at 41 with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter. The game would be tied at 41 going into overtime. In overtime, Zairea Hannah extended the Golden Eagles lead to 43-41 in the beginning of the overtime period. Chastin Giles would bring the Lakers back connecting on her second three-pointer of the game with 2:40 left in overtime. Shannon Blankenship would respond 28 seconds later making a three-pointer to help extend the Golden Eagles lead to 50-44 with 2:12 left in the game. Chastin Giles made a free-throw which brought the Lakers down 51-49 with 16 seconds left. Anna Felice would seal the Lakers fate with two free-throws to make the final score 53-49. Juliana Logana and Chastin Giles would both lead the Lakers with nine points on the day.
The second game saw the Lakers rebound from their loss against Brockport getting their final win of the season defeating the Fredonia Blue Devils 65-51. The Lakers found themselves in a bad position in the beginning of the first quarter trailing 8-0 with just 1:48 into the game, including giving up two three pointers to Fredonia’s Renee Park and Jaden Sciotti. Elaina Johnson would score the first points of the game for the Lakers to put them down 8-2. Sydney Hoefs made a three-pointer to bring the Lakers down by three and Shania Iglesias cut into the Blue Devils lead by cutting the Lakers deficit to just two at 10-8. The Lakers rallied to tie the game at 18 at the end of quarter one. Juliana Logana helped the Lakers take the lead at two at the beginning of the second quarter. With 4:50 left in the second quarter, Sydney Hoefs made another three-pointer to extend the Lakers lead to 12. Chastin Giles made a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 14 their biggest lead of the day so far in the game. Fredonia’s Allie Wandell made a three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second quarter but the Lakers would lead 40-32 at the half.
The third quarter began with no scoring until 7:23 left in the third quarter with Mary Culeton making two free-throws to cut into the Lakers lead at 40-34. With 3:54 left in the third quarter Alena Wright cut into the Lakers lead at 41-38. The Lakers extended their lead to 49-38 at the end of the third quarter. Fredonia’s Sarah Seaman cut into he Lakers lead to seven making a three-pointer. Logan Castiglione made back-to-back three-pointers to seal the Blue Devils fate. Elaina Johnson added the final point of the day for the Lakers for their 65-51 win over the Blue Devils. The Lakers went off in terms of scoring as they had four double-digit scorers on the day with Logan Castiglione, Elaina Johnson, Sydney Hoefs, and Juliana Logana who would all finish the day with 10+ points. Elaina Johnson had a career game leading the Lakers with 18 points on the day. Sydney Hoefs would lead the Lakers in both games with 19 points and led the Lakers with four three-pointers in both games. Overall, Logan Castiglione would have a career year leading the Lakers in points with 209, her previous record was 119 points last season. Karleigh Leo was second on the team with 200 points as a transfer student who made an immediate impact right away. Shania Iglesias would also improve this season as she finished third on the team in points with 176.
The Lakers conclude the season with their best finish at 13-12 their best record since the 2012-2013 season. They’ll head into the 2023-2024 season with a lot of confidence after a resurgence year from their team.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Oswego State men’s hockey announces 2022-23 leadership group
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s hockey team announced on Sunday, April 10th the 2022-23 leadership group for the team. The Lakers will return for their 56th season in the fall and three current Lakers will be the core leadership to lead the squad into battle. Ryan Bunka will return using his extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 to be the captain of the 2022-23 team. The defenseman from Unionville, Ontario, Canada has played three seasons for the Lakers and missed the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 canceling the campaign. Bunka has 36 games played with 3 goals and 6 assists over the course of his career at Oswego State. The left handed defenseman only missed 2 games this past season and was an essential part of the defensive core on the second pairing. The Laker finished +16 in the plus/minus column at the end of the year, the best out of any Oswego State player.
In the assistant captain roles, defenseman Troy Robillard and forward Alex DiCarlo will get the A on the jersey for next season. DiCarlo has been with the program since his freshman year back in the 2019-20 season. The Ontario native started his freshman campaign as a healthy scratch before becoming a key part of the offensive core by the end of the season. During his sophomore season, DiCarlo returned from the COVID-19 break and continued his dominance in the SUNYAC conference. In 26 games played, the Laker tallied 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points. The point per game player did not miss a game this season and set career high stats in both the goal and assist column.
The other assistant captain transferred to Oswego State from the NCAA Division I program out of Anchorage, Alaska. Robillard established himself as a key addition to the defensive team after playing 23 games this past season. The defenseman finished with 4 goals and 3 assists after his first season in green and gold. One of those goals was a game winner in the Teal Night game against SUNY Cortland back during the fall semester. The junior will return for his senior year at Oswego State.
The Lakers are looking ahead to the summer months and the key part of the season, the offseason. Oswego State has one game announced so far for the 2022-23 season that is publicly known. The Utica College Pioneers released on twitter the date of their Teddy Bear Toss game for next season. Oswego State will travel to Utica on December 3rd for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State men’s hockey team prior to their 2022-23 season.
Image Provided By Oswego State Men’s Hockey Twitter (@OswegoMHockey)
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Men’s Basketball moves on to the Semifinals
OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Basketball battled Cortland Tuesday night in the first round of the SUNYAC Championship. The 74-67 final featured a Laker comeback in the second half as the team outscored the Red Dragons 44-30 to secure the win. Junior Liam Sanborn had a large part in the comeback as the guard put up 26 points in his 38 minutes play to lead the Lakers. Senior Joe Sullivan secured six field goals in his 38 minutes played as well. This win eliminates the Cortland Red Dragons who were the fifth seed in the playoffs.
Oswego now looks ahead to the Semi-Final round in which the team will have to travel to Brockport to face off against the number one team. The nationally ranked Golden Eagles are scheduled to battle the Lakers at 7:30 p.m. upon the finish of the other game between Oneonta and Potsdam. The winners will play each other at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Brockport.
