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 Basketball struggles continue as they lose third straight
OSWEGO, NY- It was a rough week for the Lakers as they lost both games this weekend falling to New Paltz 71-43 on Friday and then to Oneonta on Saturday 62-48.
In the first game against New Paltz it was all out domination for the Hawks against the Lakers. The Lakers started off on the wrong foot as they trailed 11-0 with 7:00 left in the first quarter. The Lakers finally got on the board with 6:43 left in the first quarter as Logan Castiglione would knock down a three to help the Lakers only trail 11-3. The Hawks continued to dominate the Lakers late into the first as they led 24-9 after quarter one. Logan Castiglione would lead the Lakers with five points after quarter number one. The Lakers faired decent from both the field and for three-pointers as they went 40% from the field and 50% for three-pointers. The second quarter would be a repeat of the first quarter for the Lakers. The Hawks would score in the beginning minutes of the second quarter as Jenny Walton made a layup in the paint to go up 26-9. The Hawks would lead by a huge margin of 42-13 heading into halftime.
The second half was a continuation of the first half for the Lakers. The Hawks would extend their lead to 45-13 in the early minutes of the third. The Lakers could never close the gap at all throughout the rest of the game. Oswego completely struggled in the third quarter from the field only managing to shoot 14.29% but went 75% from the free-throw line. The Hawks led by a 39-point margin at the end of the third quarter 60-21. The fourth quarter saw the Hawks continue to extend their lead as Julia Sabatino scored her sixth point of the game to extend the Hawks lead to 62-21. The Hawks would dominate winning 71-43. Brianna Fitzgerald would lead the Hawks with 20 points and Logan Castiglione would lead the Lakers with nine points. This marks the eighth time that the Lakers have lost by 15 points or more.
After a blowout loss to the Hawks, the Lakers were hoping to rebound against the Oneonta Red Dragons but unfortunately this wasn’t the case. Olivia Dobrovsky got the Red Dragons on the board first to make it 2-0. Sydney Hoefs would score with 7:09 left in the first quarter to cut the Red Dragons lead to two. The score was tied at 13 at the end of the first quarter. Oswego faired well from the field at 50%. The second quarter started with Juliana Logana scoring to give the Lakers the early lead in the second quarter but it only took the Red Dragons just 25 seconds to tie the game at 15. The Lakers would extend their led to 31-23 with just 45 seconds left but the Red Dragons would knock down a three as the Lakers led 31-26 at half.
Giavanna Principio-White would extend the Lakers lead to seven at the beginning of the third. Oneonta found its way back in the game in the third as Meg Nardelli hit a three-pointer to draw within one, Nardelli would then score again less than a minute later to give the Red Dragons a 37-36 lead with 3:50 left. The Lakers found themselves trailing 46-41 at the end of the third quarter. The Lakers could get nothing going in the fourth quarter especially in the opening minutes of the fourth. The Red Dragons would continue to extend their lead in the fourth. Jenna Harclerode knocked down a three-pointer to put Oneonta up 53-43 over the Lakers as the Lakers found themselves in a tough position that they couldn’t get out of for the rest of the game. The Red Dragons took down the Lakers 62-48. Logan Castiglione would lead the Lakers in points for both games with 20.
The Lakers look to get back in the win column as they host the Cortland Red Dragons on Friday, February 10th at the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Oswego faces a Red Dragons team that is at the top of the SUNYAC this season with Cortland coming off a flat loss to New Platz 64-46. Oswego was absolutely dominated in the game they faced against Cortland back on January 13th 75-30. The Lakers have lost six straight to Cortland dating back to the 2018-2019 season. Their last win against Cortland came on January 12, 2019 winning 70-57.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Field Hockey Picks Up First Win of Season
The Oswego State Lakers faced off against the Elmira Soaring Eagles, with both squads coming into this game looking for their first win of the new season. While Oswego is looking for a bounce-back win after being shut out by the Wilkes Colonels in their season opener, Elmira came into the game holding a 15-game losing streak that began back in the 2024 season. Needless to say, both teams came into this game hungry for a win.
The game started out gritty, with both sides boasting a total of 7 fouls combined within the first four minutes of playing time. However, back-to-back penalty corners for Oswego was able to get the action going early with Midfielder Carly King netting her first goal of her college career as well as the first goal of the new season for the Lakers with the goal being assisted by Madi Stuckart and Alexa Snyder. After striking hot early, scoring with 10:05 left in the first quarter, Oswego took its foot off the gas, allowing Elmira to outshoot them 5-3, a stellar goalie performance from 2024 Rookie of the Year Sam Krautheim; however kept the score at 1-0 heading into the second.
Elmira kept the momentum moving out of the break however, living in Oswego’s zone for several minutes until they finally broke the seal with Forward Caitlin Ehlenfield able to get one past Krautheim off of the rebound to tie it up at 1-1 with the goal being assisted by Nicole Luther. This complete swing of momentum seemed to light a fire under the Lakers as they proceeded to play with a vengeance for the rest of the quarter. Oswego proceeded to rack up 6 fouls, with even defenseman Heather Dent being ejected with three minutes left on the clock. Oswego also held a monopoly over shots and offense, staying almost exclusively on the Soaring Eagles’ side of the field the rest of the half.
Oswego kept up the barrage heading out of the 2nd half, taking back-to-back penalty corners and eventually scoring 3:30 into the half with Forward Ellie Kazel blasting it home for Oswego to take a 2-1 lead. After this lead change, Oswego and Elmira proceeded to exchange blows for the rest period, exchanging shots on net back and forth.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the defense had locked down on allowing shots for both sides. This, accompanied with players showing exhaustion after going all out for 45 minutes, resulted in a rather lackluster offensive fourth quarter with Elmira boasting only 3 shots while Oswego had 0.
Oswego was able to secure the victory in a 2-1 win over Elmira, giving them their first win on the season, while Elmira’s losing streak fell to 16 games. Oswego will be looking to go above .500 on their Senior Day, September 6th, against the Nazareth Golden Flyers. Elmira will look to finally break the curse on September 6th against the Gwynedd Mercy University Griffins.
Written By: Eric Palmeri
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Baseball loses two non-conference games
Rochester N.Y. — The Oswego State baseball team took a trip to Rochester to take on two non-conference opponents, The University of Rochester and St. John Fisher College. The first game was on Tuesday against the Rochester Yellowjackets. Oswego got started early, a one out home run by Ryan Enos in the top of the first saw them grab the 1-0 lead. Rochester wasn’t letting the Lakers get comfortable though, and in the bottom of the first they led off with back-to-back walks and then a three run home run left. A double later in the inning drove one more home, and the Yellowjackets had a 4-1 to start the second frame. The bottom of the second saw Rochester grab two more runs on a two-out, bases loaded single. The Lakers found the scoreboard again in the third, a lead of double followed by a hit-by-pitch brought Kyle Lauria to the plate. He would hit it out and drop the deficit to 6-4. In the bottom of the fourth the Yellowjackets drove in one more to extend their lead to 7-4, and in the bottom of the fifth they would tally their eighth and final run of the game. Innings six through nine were scoreless, and the Lakers were handed their fourth loss of the season. A total of eight batters were hit in the game, four by each side.
The Lakers road trip in Rochester continued on Wednesday with a 3 P.M. matchup with the St. John Fisher Cardinals. A scoreless first inning was followed by five run bottom of the second for the Cardinals. A one out RBI single got the first run, a walk would load the bases, and then another walk brought in the second. After an out, a third walk of the inning drove in the third walk, and a single drove in runs for and five. The Lakers answered the following frame, a bases loaded, two-out double by Lukas Olsson cleared the bases and got the Lakers up to a 5-3 deficit. The Lakers tied it in the fourth. Ryan Enos was hit by a pitch with bases loaded to bring in the fourth run, and a Kyle Lauria walk brought home the fifth of the game for the Lakers. A scoreless fifth, was followed by the Lakers grabbing a single run in the top of the sixth. St. John Fisher tied it in the bottom of the eight at six on a solo shot to left. The Lakers wouldn’t score in the top of the ninth. The Cardinals led of the bottom of the ninth with a walk. The runner advanced to second on a passed ball, and was then driven in on a walk-off double, 7-6. Lukas Olsson led the Lakers with three RBIs, Kyle Lauria had two, and Ryan Enos driving in the final one.
The Lakers next matchup comes on the road against the Plattsburgh Cardinals for a three game set. Game one played on Friday, the other two played Saturday. The team now sits at a 13-5 (3-0 SUNYAC).
IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS
