OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team will look to avenge their 18-4 loss to Clarkson University as they battle SUNY Brockport on Saturday, April 17th. The race for the SUNYAC Championships is currently a three way battle in the west division with Brockport, Geneseo, and Oswego all being contenders for the two spots available for the postseason. Oswego has not seen the 5-1 Brockport squad yet this season, and the Lakers dropped their first game to Geneseo earlier this week. This conference matchup is important for Britt Howard and the rest of the Lakers if the group wants to remain in the hunt and make it into another post season, a streak that started back in the 2016 season. Oswego enters this matchup on two-game slide while the Golden Eagles ride a 6-game win streak which includes a 23-2 victory vs Buffalo State on April 16th.
The Lakers suffered their worst offensive performance of the season against Clarkson. They shot the ball just 16 times versus the Golden Knights, their lowest output of 2021. Although Oswego wasn’t able to score much, sophomore midfielder, Sela Wiley, continued her outstanding season, scoring 3-out-of 4 Lakers goals in the loss. Junior goalkeeper, Delaney Kendrick, will need to have a great defensive performance to suppress Brockport’s high-powered offense on Saturday. The Golden Eagles are averaging 16 points a game in 2021 and have scored 58 goals in their past three games. Four players have totaled at least 25 points for Brockport so far this season, including Cassidy Burnash (20 goals, 5 assists), Allison Jennings (18 goals, 9 assists), Natalie Strough (13 goals, 25 assists), and leading scorer Heather Conklin (33 goals, 7 assists). With only five games remaining in Oswego’s schedule, Saturday’s contest will have a pivotal impact not only on the Lakers postseason chances, but the entire SUNYAC west division standings. Face off is set for 1:00 PM at Laker Turf Stadium and WTOP 10 will have coverage of all the action.
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Oswego Men’s LAX finish season 7-5
OSWEGO, NY- The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse finished their 2023 lacrosse season as they played two games this week as they played Cortland and Potsdam on the road.The first game was an usual outing for the Lakers against Cortland but they would be lose 22-5. The Lakers would get off on the wrong foot in the first quarter as they trailed 7-0 with 4:36 left in the first quarter as Klay Stuver would score twice during that span for the Red Dragons. The Lakers would finally get their first goal of the game as Liam Sexton would score unassisted with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Dragons would continue to find answers to the Lakers defense as Ryan Smith and Tyler Starrett would score for the Red Dragons to give Cortland a 9-1 lead at the end of quarter one. 33 seconds into the second quarter Klay Stuver would score his third goal of the game as Tyler Starrett assisted with the goal. The Lakers second goal would come 2:35 seconds later with Gavin Elston scoring his first goal of the game. Almost two minutes later Liam Sexton scored his second goal of the game as the Lakers trailed 10-3. Three minutes would go by without both teams scoring until Klay Stuver scored his fourth goal of the game to put the Red Dragons up 11-3. Connor Aspinal would score his first goal in four games to put the Lakers down 12-4 with 2:14 remaining in the first half. The rest of the second quarter would remain scoreless with the Red Dragons leading 12-4 at half. Cortland would dominate the face-off battle winning nine face-offs compared to Oswego’s five.
The second half would write the same story for the Lakers as the first. Three minutes and nine seconds would go by the in third quarter without a score from both teams until Caden Yancey scored for the Red Dragons to put them up 13-4. Two minutes and fifty two seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score the final goal of the game for the Lakers to put them down 13-5. Klay Stuver’s brother Kole would score his first goal of the game to give the Red Dragons a 14-5 lead. The Red Dragons would lead 19-5 at the end of the third quarter. Tyler Starrett would score twice during that span with Caden Yancey, Ryan Smith, and Nick Stoecker scoring once as well during that 5-0 run during the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter would start with a 6:32 scoring drought for both teams until Joe DeLany scored his second goal of the season for the Red Dragons to put them up 20-5. Bradley Cunningham and Tristan Triolo would score the final two goals of the day for the Red Dragons as both of them would score their first goals of the season as well as their second career goals. The Red Dragons would win 22-5 as they had 13 different players scoring for them. This marks the second time the Lakers have lost 22-5 to Cortland in their program’s history. This also marks the tenth time the Lakers gave up 22+ to the Red Dragons with their worst loss against Cortland losing 29-5 back on New Years Day 1984.
The Lakers would rebound against Potsdam in their last game of the season winning 13-12. The Lakers got things started scoring 1:23 seconds into the game with Jack Delany scoring for the Lakers. It didn’t take the Lakers long to score again as two minutes later Liam Sexton would put one in the net for the Lakers to give them a 2-0 lead with 11:37 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams went scoreless for 7:44 seconds until Corey O’Connor would score a goal man-up after a Potsdam penalty. Sixteen seconds later Logan Prescott would score for the Lakers to make it 4-0. Potsdam would finally get on the board with 1:38 left in the first quarter as Peyton Smith would score for the Bears to make it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. Potsdam would add a goal early in the second quarter as Drew Rose would score unassisted with just 2:46 into the second quarter. Oswego would go score for 5:16 seconds until Corey O’Connor added his second goal of the game with Jack Delany assisting the goal. Eighteen seconds later O’Connor would add goal number four of the day to put the Lakers up 6-2. Potsdam would score another goal to make it 6-3 with 2:30 remaining in the first half. Trey Jones would score with 57 seconds left in the half to give the Lakers a 7-3 lead at half.
The Bears would cut the Lakers lead to three with just 19 seconds into the second half as Tyler Gould would put one in the back of the net for Potsdam. Thirty seven seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score for the Lakers to make it 8-4. Potsdam would rally off two straight goals to cut the Lakers lead to 8-6 with 9:42 left in the third quarter. Hayden Coney and Logan Prescott would add two more goals for the Lakers to increase their lead to 10-6 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. The Bears would cut the score to two with 1:46 left in the third quarter as Peyton Walsh would have his second goal of the game and Ryan Wassmer would score his first of the game. Peyton Walsh would score his third goal of the game just 1:23 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the Lakers lead to just one. Gavin Elston would bring the Lakers lead back to two with 11:34 remaining in the fourth. Potsdam would score man-down as Bryce Tyler was called for a cross-check but it wouldn’t matter for the Bears as Noah Strader would score to bring the score to a one-point game. Liam Sexton would make the score 12-10 with 8:24 left in the game. Potsdam would quickly respond as Peyton Walsh scored goal number four of the day with 7:36 left. Jack Delany would score his second goal of the game and would seal the deal for the Lakers with 2:34 remaining in the game to make the final score 13-12 Oswego.
The Lakers finish 7-5 to end their 2023 season as they will face off once against Cortland in the first round of the SUNYAC Playoff Tournament on Wednesday, May 3rd at Cortland at 4:00. The Lakers clinch their first playoff berth since 2019 where that season ended losing to guess who, the Cortland Red Dragons 13-10. This game will be a rematch of last week’s game as Oswego looks to avoid going 0-41 against Cortland all-time in their program’s history and finally get over the hump and beat Cortland.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP-10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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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 Women’s Lacrosse Prepares for Brockport Following Win Versus Buffalo State
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team won their fourth game of the season on Monday, defeating the Buffalo State Bengals 14-4. This was the Lakers second win of the season versus the Bengals as the won their last matchup 14-6 on April 10th. The Lakers sweep the Bengals to get two wins this season in the SUNYAC West Division.
Oswego snapped a 3-game losing streak with Monday’s victory, something they needed to accomplish in order to keep pace in the West division. It was a back-and-forth game midway through the 1st half. The Lakers lead 3-0 in the opening 5 minutes following goals from Shae McConnell, Erin Lehmann, and leading scorer, Sela WIley. The Bengals then retaliated with 3 goals of their own, tying the game with 12:36 left in the 1st half. However, Buffalo State would never hold a lead in the entire game as they were outscored by Oswego 11-1 at the end of regulation. Wiley had yet another dominant performance on Monday. The sophomore scored 5 goals, bringing her season total to 27, and added an assist on top of that. McConnell also had a hat-trick while Isabella Lembo fell just short, totaling 2 goals and 1 assist. Four other Lakers scored a single goal, including Logan Castiglione, Julia Quirk, Erin Lehmann, and Katie Fierro. Fierro netted her first collegiate goal in the victory.
Oswego improved to 3-2 in SUNYAC play and will look towards their highly anticipated matchup vs SUNY Brockport. The Lakers will look to avenge their blowout loss to the Golden Eagles just a few days ago on April 17th. Oswego lost 22-9 but will have to have a short term memory heading into Wednesday’s matchup. Brockport is on a 7-game winning streak, backed by the outstanding play of leading scorer, Heather Conklin. Conklin has scored a whopping 39 goals this season and had 6 against Oswego in their previous game. The Golden Eagles also have two other players with more than 20 goals, including Cassidy Burnash (24), and Allison Jennings (21). The Lakers will have to play better defensively in order to keep up with Brockport’s high-powered offense. Oswego currently sits in 3rd place in the West division and needs a victory to keep pace with SUNY Geneseo (4-1). Brockport (6-1) has already clinched a playoff berth and will look to continue their great 2021 season on Wednesday. Face off is set for 4:00 PM at Brockport for this SUNYAC West matchup.
