OSWEGO, N.Y — The Oswego State Lakers head into their third week of the season prepared for the start of conference play. The Lakers host SUNY Cortland in the Max Ziel Gymnasium Tuesday evening for the first time in 729 days. Oswego State kicked off the season with a 4-4 record which consisted of a successful season opener against the Keuka College Wolves. The 3-2 set win started Oswego on the right foot ahead of a weekend tournament in Morrisville. Seven contests later, Oswego will get set for a rematch against the Red Dragons after getting bounced from the post season in the opening round back in 2019.
The Red Dragons of Cortland head into the contest with an overall record of 5-2. SUNY Cortland swept the Cortland Red Dragon Classic back on Labor Day Weekend before heading on an away trip to New Jersey for a set of three games. The Red Dragons were ranked third overall in the 2021 SUNYAC Women’s Volleyball Preseason Poll back on August 25th. Oswego was ranked seventh by the head coaches in the conference.
The Lakers will look to get their first win against the Red Dragons since the 2018 season. Game one is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Oswego State fans can check out all the action on WTOP 10 via the YouTube page.
Image Provided by Alexis Fragapane, Oswego State Athletics
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Women’s lacrosse struggles against SUNY Cortland
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team had an afternoon contest with the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons Friday. Cortland came in as the number one team in the SUNYAC, and with an undefeated program record against the Lakers, 31-0, and looked to keep both.
The Red Dragons started hot. They got on the board just 44 seconds into the game, and kept their lead the entire contest. By the end of the firsT, SUNY Cortland had scored two more, and held a 3-0 advantage. The second period was when Cortland did a lot of their damage. They scored eight more unanswered goals, three players finding the back of the net more than once. Cortland’s Lauren Hopsicker had a second period hat trick, and Hannah Lorenzen finished the hat trick she started in the first. The Lakers would score one before the half, Logan Castiglione netting one, but the Lakers still were down 11-1 at the half. Cortland kept up the pressure in the second half, scoring three more times in the third period to extend their advantage to 14-1. The Red Dragon’s scored twice more before the Lakers would answer in the fourth, but the fourth is when the Lakers found a little momentum. With just under eight minutes to go, Cortland got a penalty, and Oswego would capitalize. Isabella Lembo scored on the man-up advantage, for Oswego’s second, just nine seconds into the penalty. Lembo scored again just three minutes later for Oswego’s third, Castiglione tallying assists on both goals. The Red Dragons answered with one final goal, their seventeen of the game. Oswego would grab one more consolation goal, Shae McConnell scoring, assisted by Madison Davis. Oswego couldn’t match Cortland’s offensive prowess, and lost 17-4. Lembo scored twice for the Lakers and Castiglione had three points. A tough day between the pipes for Sarah Kamide, allowing 17 goals on 27 shots. For SUNY Cortland, five players had more than two goals, and three had more than four points.
The Lakers next matchup comes against SUNY Potsdam on Saturday April, 23. They now have a 4-9 (3-3 SUNYAC) record. They sit fifth in the SUNYAC with three games to go before the playoffs.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM ROGERS, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Lakers men’s basketball cap off regular season on the road
FREDONIA, N.Y. – The Oswego state basketball team looked to end off their regular season with two wins on the road vs Brockport friday night and then the Fredonia Blue Devils on Saturday night. The Lakers were looking to avenge their previous loss to Brockport at home on December 2nd. Cartier Bowman was a catalyst for Oswego early with 9 points in 10 minutes of play. Oswego early played great team basketball and tried to get everyone involved early. The Lakers initially had a nice 15 point lead, but Brockport cut it down to 10 with about five minutes left in the first half. The Lakers gave up some quick points before the end of the first half, but still ended the half with a 44-36 lead.
The first 5 minutes of the second half stayed back and forth as Oswego maintained their 8 point lead. While Brockport began to make a small run at the Lakers, Devin Green and Ahkee Anderson both hit three pointers to extend the Laker lead back to double digits with the score 65-55 midway through the second half. Brockport fought right back and cut the lead to five with three minutes remaining. Anderson then took over for the Lakers and hit two big jump shots down the stretch to keep Oswego in front. Those shots helped Oswego pull away and finally get their revenge on Brockport 79-73. Devin Green led the Lakers with 18 points, Bowman had 17, Achille had 13, and Anderson had 11. The Lakers then moved to Saturday where they would face Fredonia on the road.
The first half started slow for the Lakers as the Blue Devils had a nine point lead halfway through the 1st half due to great play from Aaron Collins. In a very slow first half where we saw the Lakers shoot only 12% from three, it was the opposite for Fredonia as they shoot a astounding 8-9 from behind the arc. But the Lakers fought back at the end of the half to hold a 44-40 lead at the halftime break. Cartier Bowman and Jeremiah Sparks both had 10 points in the first half, and Kaleb Cook added nine more.
The Lakers then turned it around in the second half led by Jeremiah Sparks who did almost everything for the Lakers in the first 10 minutes leading the Lakers to a 65-57 lead with 10 to go. However, Fredonia’s three-point shooting continued to be a problem for Oswego. Sparks continued his dominant scoring the late stages of the second half with seven quick points including a three pointer with around seven minutes to go. Ahkee Anderson then hit a jumper to bring the lead to 12 and Kaleb Cook put the game away with four points down the stretch to grow the Lakers lead. Despite the accurate shooting of the Blue Devils, Oswego was better in almost all other facets of the game. Oswego shot over 50% from the field and really turned it around in the second half for a 85-70 victory. Sparks ended the game with a 26 point double-double with help from Cook, Anderson and Bowman who scored in double figures.
The Lakers move to 23-2(17-1) and bring their win streak to 19 headed into the SUNYAC tournament next weekend. With this win the Lakers officially locked up the number one seed for the playoffs and will get the home court advantage next weekend. The SUNYAC Tournament will begin on Tuesday, February 21. Oswego will have a first round bye and will host the final four of the conference tournament.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Simzer shines as Lakers take down Keystone
LA PLUME, P.A. — The Lakers stay undefeated as they routed Keystone College 5-1. 13 seconds into the contest Senior Kacie Simzer scored the first goal of the game for the Lakers with Kaitlyn Ahle assisting. The Lakers were tested early as they faced a situation that they have not been in all year which was a team scoring a goal, effectively ending their four game streak of not allowing a single goal. It took the Lakers only one minute and 11 seconds to score another goal as Simzer scored her second of the game. The rest of the second quarter was a defensive battle where both Oswego and Keystone combined for three penalty corner kicks and four goals. Goalie Erica Scheblein was given her first test of the year and she was ready for the challenge. After giving up a goal early in the game, Scheblein had blocked five shots from the 36:08 to the 43:21 mark. She finished the game with nine total saves, which is almost half of her season’s total. Oswego adjusted in every quarter of the game as within one minute and 20 seconds of the second half beginning Kailtyn Mastracco scored for the Lakers off of a penalty shot.
After Keystone changed goalies during the fourth quarter, Simzer tested if their new goalie was up to the task. Simzer tied the all-time record for goals in a game for the Lakers as she finished the day with four goals. Oswego finished the day with 21 shots on goal. Throughout the game, the Lakers took advantage of Keystone penalties as they had ten penalty corner kicks.
This marks the first time the Lakers have started 5-0 since the 2016-2017 season. The Lakers travel north to take on the St. Lawrence Saints on Saturday, September 17th at 1:00 PM at North Country Field.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS.
