MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — It was a very impressive performance for the Oswego State women’s hockey team Tuesday night as they shut out SUNY Morrisville 8-0. Everything was clicking for the Lakers as they easily soared past the opposing team in this NEWHL matchup. Junior Ariella Haas left it all on the ice with a whopping four goals to lead the team to victory. Other scores for the Lakers include Morgan Shines, Chyne Kennedy, and Taylor Hudson. The Lakers were off to an electric start when transfer Chyne Kennedy scored her first goal as a Laker against her former Morrisville squad just a minute into the matchup. This goal set the pace for the rest of the contest as the Lakers kept the goals coming in hot. With only four losses on the season the Lakers are establishing themselves as a very dominant team capable of shutting down opponents with ease.
With this incredible performance the Lakers head to the two seed SUNY Plattsburgh in a rivalry game that should not disappoint. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. on Friday in North Country. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State women’s hockey team for the rest of the 2021-22 season.
Image Provided by Oswego State Athletics
-
Where There’s Sparks, There’s Fire
Bethlehem, PA – The Lakers sailed down to Moravian College for the 40th Steel Club Classic picking up two wins on the perfect weekend. Their first matchup was against Montclair State who had scored over a hundred points in multiple games this season but couldn’t produce against the reigning SUNYAC championship defense of the Oswego Lakers. The Redhawks scored 73 points good enough for a season-low in their first 11 games this year, but it wasn’t a cakewalk win for the Lakers.
Montclair State ran a baseline to baseline trap on Oswego from the opening tip until the horn sounded at the end of the game. Senior Brandon Gartland shot 5 for 6 from beyond the arc exploiting no-easy-inside-bucket Redhawk defense. Junior Liam Sanborn finished the game with 22 points and helped control the pace of the game when Montclair began to chip away at the lead in the second half. Coach Leone expressed that Liam is “the guy who runs the show for us” and as good as he was on Saturday, it was a different story come Sunday.
Sanborn got into foul trouble early in the game against the Moravian College Greyhounds and didn’t see the floor much in the first half. Ending the game with 6 total points, Sanborn wasn’t the normal floor general for the Lakers. Freshman Jeremiah Sparks was the ‘spark horse’ on Sunday scoring 32 points bringing his total up to 50 on the weekend. Sparks plugged the hole in his offensive game after having five turnovers on Saturday against the Redhawks and Coach Leone was pleased with his performance.
“[Jeremiah] has obviously got some g-d given ability with his athleticism,” Coach Leone praised, “tonight might have been Jeremiah’s best game in terms of moving the ball when he was double-teamed.”
Sparks was also a presence on the defensive end tonight registering two steals and three monster blocks against the Hounds–the only three blocks of the game for Oswego. Freshman Kaleb Cook was in the backcourt with Sparks and he came up with a couple of clutch buckets and rebounds down the stretch. This turned out to be another point of emphasis for Leone regarding his comfort levels with the depth on his team.
“We finished the game with two freshman guards out there,” Leone said “so that’s pretty good for the future of our program. It was a great thing for them to be able to go through that experience especially during a win.”
Although, this win may have been a loss if it wasn’t for Joe Sullivan’s ability to flip the switch in the second half. Sullivan was non-existent in the first half ending without a bucket but through all of the adversity Oswego played against being in Moravian’s backyard, he finished with 22 second-half points.
“We challenged a couple of guys at halftime.” Leone expressed, “Like a senior should, [Sullivan] stepped up his game and played a great second half. We wouldn’t have won without him.”
Joe Sullivan finished with five boards to add to his second-half outburst and went 10 for 11 from the charity stripe. Funny enough, his missed free throw would be the ONLY missed free throw on the night for the Lakers. Oswego made 37 free throws on 38 attempts which helped seal the deal late in the game. Coach Leone was satisfied by their efforts at the line tonight.
“That was the thing I was most happy about.” Leone said, “I don’t know if we made that one we missed if it would be some kind of record for us. 37 out of 38 is pretty impressive and our guys deserve a lot of credit on that.”
Sullivan and Gartland combined for 21 of 22 at the free-throw line on Sunday night as the Lakers outran the Greyhounds winning by a score of 85 to 79 and improve to 7-2 on the year. The Lakers will play their home opener this Friday against Fredonia at 7:30 p.m. in Max Zeil Gymnasium, and look for Jeremiah Sparks to continue to produce as he grows into a future SUNYAC star.
-
Oswego State Baseball Splits with Oneonta in SUNYAC Crossover
ONEONTA, N.Y. — The Oswego State Lakers baseball team traveled to Oneonta thursday for a doubleheader SUNYAC crossover matchup against the Red Dragons. Oswego would only be able to secure one of the possible two wins today by taking the first game in dominant fashion by a score of 19-5 but then falling in the second game 5-2.
In the first game it was all Lakers as they were up 6-3 after three innings and up 8-3 after four. Oswego’s bats would continue to remain hot by propelling 6 runs in the seventh inning to put them up 17-5. Led by senior Ryan Enos he was able to hit for a pair of doubles and a home run. However not only the upperclassmen came out to shine in the first game, freshman Jacob Levine was able to provide 4 RBI’s for Oswego as well. Moving on to the second game Oneonta was able to edge the lakers by a score of 5-2. Oswego would not have the hot offense in this matchup only generating 2 runs in seven innings as well as only 5 hits. The Red Dragons were able to jump off early by getting three runs in the first three innings including two individual home runs in the third. Brandon Frank and Julian Drew were the only Lakers to generate RBI’s. Looking on the other end at the mound, Oneonta senior pitcher Michael Losak was able to steal the show and throw 120 pitches in a complete game to carry them to the win.
Oneonta now sits at 11-9 overall this season with the split and 6-8 in the SUNYAC East division and currently are in second . The team looks forward to Saturday for a doubleheader against another west division foe in the Brockport Golden Eagles with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. As for the Lakers, they have now gone 2-2 in their last 4 to move to 19-3 overall and 12-2 in the SUNYAC and secure the first place seed in the West division. They will look to bounce back on track with a double header on Saturday as well against an East division opponent in the Plattsburgh Cardinals who have not won in Oswego since 2014. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. for the first game and approximately 3:00 p.m. for the 2nd game. Both games will be played at the Laker Baseball Field.
-
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)
