OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State Field Hockey team has had a rough week of conference play, dropping conference games to Cortland on Tuesday and to Geneseo on Saturday. The Lakers are looking to turn it around with the help of senior forward Katie Reynolds who has been the team leader in goals scored this season.
Despite starting (1-2) in conference play, the Lakers have found an offensive spark thanks to Katie Reynolds who was recently named an Oswego State Athlete of the Week. She was awarded this based on her performances the week of Sept. 24. scoring a total of six goals in just two games. Reynolds scored two of the Lakers three goals in their (6-3) loss to Nazareth and a career-high of four goals in the win against Brockport.
“I mean when all four of those goals were scrambled in front of the cage, that is my time to shine,” said Reynolds. “If there is a scramble in front of the cage, I am going to do whatever it takes to get that ball in the back. But I could not have done it without the help of my midfield. The midfield did an awesome job taking the ball down and feeding it right to me.”
Reynolds finds herself having a very important position on the team being one of four seniors in comparison to the to the team’s twelve freshmen.
“It’s definitely a challenge because they overpower us,” Reynolds said. “There are twelve freshmen and there are only four seniors. “Having a strong leadership voice on the team is very important for us right now with such a young team.”
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SUNYAC Conference Announces New Format for Fall 2020
OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday, June 17th, the State University of New York Athletic Conference announced changes to the Fall 2020 Season regarding four sports. This change affects women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, and both men’s and women’s soccer, all sports offered by the conference. This decision was made Monday, June 15th, by the SUNYAC Board of Directors during its weekly conference meeting. The Board is made up of one representative from each member school, making up 10 individuals. This announcement has two separate changes that comes a few months before the fall season that will allow division three athletics to continue.
The first switch pertains to women’s tennis moving to the Spring 2021 season, which would align the conference with the current NCAA Division III tournament that already takes place in the spring season. The conference has eight of their ten members in the women’s tennis conference as Buffalo State and Potsdam do not offer the sport. The SUNYAC has been looking to make this change for several years, so the current situation allows the conference to evaluate the potential move. Some conferences have their season in the fall due to weather in the region, making their conference champion play for a NCAA title in the spring season.
For the other three sports, the SUNYAC has decided to split the conference into two different divisions that will compete against each other during the regular season. The divisions are split using Interstate 81 in Central New York, that goes from Oswego to Cortland. The West Division will contain Brockport, Buffalo State, Fredonia, Geneseo, and Oswego while the East Division will consist of Cortland, New Paltz, Oneonta, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam. The change will affect volleyball along with men’s and women’s soccer. Each team would play every opponent in their given division twice with a home and home series. At the end of the season, the top two teams of each division will secure a playoff berth to the SUNYAC playoffs. The same playoff format will be used from years past with all semi final games being played on November 4th, and all finals games being played on November 7th across all three sports. The main reason for this switch was of course to decrease travel time and costs as teams would not need to stay overnight for long road trips. The other benefit is over course the fact that players and team staff will be in contact with less individuals. This move can also be found around many other division III conferences like the NEAC, the conference Morrisville is a part of.
The conference has also stated that the institutions still have the authority to schedule non-conference match ups outside of division play. SUNYAC continued to say that colleges could schedule games against opponents from the other division, with these games not having any affect on the conference standings.
Moving forward, Oswego State Laker fans can expect fall sport’s schedules to be released by the end of July. The Lakers kicked off their season last year around the end of August. Till then, WTOP 10 will continue to update readers on all off season news to keep you up to date on your favorite Oswego State team.
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Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Looks to Turn Around Season
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse will be back in action on Friday, April 16th against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The Lakers are currently 0-3 overall in 2021 and lost their first game of the season to the Golden Eagles. Brockport defeated Oswego 12-5 in Rochester back on April 2nd and handed the Lakers their first conference lost. Since then, the Lakers have not been able to get it done in and out of conference play. The squad currently is in fourth in the SUNYAC West Division Standings behind third place Brockport. After Friday, the Lakers have three more games left before the end of the 2021 campaign.
Friday’s contest will be the biggest game to date for the Lakers because the result of this game could decide whether or not the Oswego team remains in the hunt for the SUNYAC Championship. Oswego comes into the contest being led by Lucas Cioch with eight points total. Through his first three collegiate games, the freshman midfielder has five points and three assists. Senior Liam Dollard has had a fast start to the 2021 season with three goals and one assist for four points. On the defensive side of the ball, senior goaltender Kevin O’Donnell has had a rocky start with the rest of the defense through the first three games of the season. The netminder is currently posting 43 goals against with a 14.33 goals against average and 39 saves for a .476 save percentage. Last season, O’Donnell had a .620 save percentage after their four game season in 2020.
The Lakers take on the Golden Knights on Friday, April 16th at 4 p.m. at Laker Turf Stadium. WTOP 10 will be live from the field to bring Oswego State fans all the action as the SUNYAC West Division heats up.
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A Look Ahead: Oswego State men’s hockey prepares for SUNY Canton and SUNY Morrisville
OSWEGO N.Y. — After completing nine games into the season, the Oswego State men’s hockey team finds themselves second in the State University of New York Athletic Conference and trending upward towards the national poll. After starting slow with two losses against Hobart College and Elmira College the opening weekend, the Lakers were able to get back on track going 3-0-1 against SUNYAC opponents. The wins coming against opponents like SUNY Cortland, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Potsdam. The 2-2 tie against Plattsburgh State was the only fall back during that four games stretch. The Geneseo Ice Knights came to the Deborah F. Stanley Arena on November 20th in anticipated match up. The Lakers would fall 6-1 to the Ice Knights after six unanswered goals over the course of the contest. Although the Lakers out shot the Ice Knights 23-17, Oswego could not find a way around Geneseo netminder Matt Petizian.
The Lakers were able to get back in the win column this past weekend with two wins against the Williams College Ephs. The 3-0 and 3-1 victories put Oswego at 5-3-1 overall record. Underclassmen Shane Bull and Garrett Clegg both had stand out weekends with Bull recording a goal and assist in each contest and Clegg with two goals and one assist. Clegg was named Oswego State Athletics Male Athlete of the Week due to his performances. Junior goaltender Steven Kozikoski has continued to come to form in between the pipes for Oswego State making 50 saves over the course of the two games and only allowing one goal. Kozikoski was named the SUNYAC Prestosports Goaltender of the Week due to his performances in this past weekend’s games.
Junior captain Travis Broughman is tied for the lead in points through the first nine games of the season. The forward has two goals and five assists for seven points in these contests. Connor Sleeth has matched that points total with one goal and six assists. The sophomore forward scored his first career collegiate goal in the Teal Game against Cortland and started the season with a six game point streak. On the defensive side, transfer Troy Robillard leads the team in blocks with a total of twelve. The junior defenseman has also tallied one goal and two assists for three points through his eight games played with the Lakers this season.
Around the SUNYAC
With most teams playing five games or more in the conference, SUNYAC fans have been able to see how the conference is going to shake out this season. Without any shock, the Geneseo Ice Knights lead the pack with a conference record of 4-0-0-0-1 with 13 points. Geneseo’s tie comes against Cortland two weekends ago. Their 13 points are followed up by the Cortland Red Dragons with 11 points. The Red Dragons are coming off a 4-1 win over the Morrisville State Mustangs Wednesday night. The Lakers who sit with 10 points and a conference record of 3-0-1-0-1 hold the third spot. Oswego State’s loss came against Geneseo in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena and their tie against the Plattsburgh State Cardinals on the North Country swing. Plattsburgh State and SUNY Brockport are tied for fourth with nine points. However, the Cardinals have already played seven conference games compared to the five the Golden Eagles have completed. The two teams out west, Buffalo State and Fredonia, both have six points and conference records of 2-0-1-0-0. Rounding out the conference, Morrisville and Potsdam are both looking for their first wins of the season after starting 0-0-5-0-0 and 0-0-6-0-0. As the fall semester finishes up, a similar picture has emerged. Geneseo remains to be the top dog in the conference after winning the SUNYAC Championship in 2019-20, and everyone else is chasing the number one team in the nation.
Around the Nation
After five weeks of the United States College Hockey Online Division III poll, Oswego State fans have been able to see where the Lakers fall compared to the rest of Division III hockey. Throughout the beginning of the season, the Lakers have been receiving two to four votes per week. Compared to the rest of the SUNYAC, Oswego is one of just three teams currently listed in the poll that represent the conference. Geneseo remained at number one for the fourth straight week receiving eighteen first place votes. The Ice Knights have an 8-0-1 record overall and will not face Oswego State until February 5th when the Lakers travel back to Geneseo. SUNY Brockport also has received votes the first five weeks of the season, but has been decreasing in the votes count due to loses the past couple of weeks. The Golden Eagles got four votes this past week after a 2-3 lost to Connecticut College and a 7-1 victory over Chatham University in the Skidmore College tournament.
As the national poll stands right now, Oswego State will play three more teams that find themselves in the national poll. The first being January 1st in the Oswego State Hockey Classic as current #4 Augsburg University takes on the Lakers at 7:00 p.m. in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. Eight days later, Oswego will travel down Interstate 90 to take on current #3 Utica College in a Sunday afternoon contest on January 9th. This will the second contest between these two non-conference opponents this season after the Pioneers found themselves victorious in a preseason match up in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. The final nationally ranked opponent will be the SUNYAC match up on February 5th in Geneseo.
A Look Ahead
Heading into this weekend, Oswego State sets their sights on SUNY Canton and then SUNY Morrisville. Friday night, the Lakers will head two and a half hours up north to take on the Kangaroos in a non-conference battle. Canton comes into the match up posting a 2-2-1 record and on a one game losing streak. Recently, the Kangaroos canceled their holiday tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. This will be the second contest these two teams will play this season after SUNY Canton dropped an exhibition match up to the Lakers earlier in October. This game gives Oswego another opportunity to continue their win streak and gain national attention as the season continues on.
On Saturday, the Lakers will head home for another SUNYAC match up in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. The Morrisville State Mustangs will return to Oswego to add another chapter to the two team’s history books. The last time the Lakers faced the Mustangs, it was a 7-0 victory on February 15th, 2020. The Lakers have won the last seventeen match ups against the Mustangs and have only dropped one game against Morrisville. Special teams will have an impact on Saturday’s match up as the Lakers post a 25.0 percent power play efficiency compared to the Mustang’s penalty kill that is below an 80.0 percent success rate. Morrisville comes to Oswego after losing Wednesday night to Cortland 4-1. Oswego looks to continue their success in the conference as the team chases the top spot in the SUNYAC. Saturday night is also the annual Teddy Bear Toss game for Oswego State men’s hockey. On the first goal, Oswego State fans are asked to throw teddy bears on the ice. If fans can not attend, there is an online donation portal. Click here for the link.
How to Tune In
Hockey Night in Oswego on WTOP 10 kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Twitch and on campus on Channel 10.2. Oswego State fans can find puck drop at 7:00 p.m. on WTOP 10. WNYO, SUNY Oswego’s radio station, will also be broadcasting the game live on their website and on 88.9 FM.
Image Provided by Shelby Peplowski, WTOP 10 Photography Department
SUNYAC Standings Provided by the SUNYAC website
USCHO Division III National Poll Provided by the USCHO website
