Oswego Men’s Lacrosse

Oswego Men’s Lacrosse Takes on Brockport

OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team is set to make their 2021 season debut on Friday vs. SUNY Brockport. The Lakers have had their previous two games (vs Morrisville State and vs SUNY Oneonta) either postponed or canceled due to positive COVID-19 cases. This will be the first time the Men’s Lacrosse team has played a game since March of 2020 and their first time playing Brockport since April of 2019.

Oswego will be led by starting goalkeeper, Kevin O’Donnell, who will begin his senior season on Friday. O’Donnell, a four-year starter for the Lakers, is only 2 saves away from reaching 400 career saves. Once accomplished, he will become the first Oswego Men’s goalkeeper to surpass 400 saves since Wyatt Russo in 2016. Junior starting attackman, Weston Gray, will lead the Lakers offensively vs Brockport. Gray has totaled 26 goals the past two seasons, including 20 goals in 2019. This contest will be Brockport’s second game of the season as they fell to Alfred University in an 8-7 loss on March 20th. However, Friday’s game will be both teams’ first SUNYAC matchup of the season, making it more pivotal than ever to secure an early-season victory. The Oswego Men’s Lacrosse team is currently 9-10 against Brockport all time, but can even things up with a win on Friday. The game is set for a 4 p.m. face-off in Brockport. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage on the Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team for the remainder of the season.

Dan Doolan and the Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Team

Dan Doolan is a graduate student on the men’s lacrosse team. His senior season was canceled due to COVID-19 and he is the only one of the 15 seniors from the 2020 team to return this year. Spring student-athletes last year were granted an extra year of eligibility and Doolan, who was already planning on coming back for grad school will get to play another season of men’s lacrosse. 

Dan Doolan has come a long way since his freshman year at Oswego, as a freshman, he had five points. In his junior year, he would change that to 31 points which included 22 goals. Doolan will be stepping into a leadership role this year as a great example of both grinding to develop as a player, as well as being the eldest member of the team. Head Coach Drew Bezek has high praise for this special member of his first recruiting class.

“It’s exciting to have somebody on the field that younger guys can look at his development, and understand that sometimes there’s a process to get where you want to be.” Bezek said.

Doolan is currently taking classes to get his MBA and plans to graduate in June. For the rest of the semester, he will get to experience the grind of balancing sport and school, which was taken away from so many student-athletes in the past year. The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team kick off their 2021 season Friday, April 2nd, on the road in Brockport.

Oswego Men’s Lacrosse: Season Debut Delayed

OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Team hasn’t played a game since March 10th of last year. Unfortunately, the Lakers will have to wait a bit longer to play their first game of the 2021 season. Oswego was originally scheduled to begin their season at home vs. SUNY Morrisville on March 17th, but due to a positive coronavirus case on the opposing team, the game was cancelled. Oswego was then scheduled to play SUNY Oneonta on March 20th, however the game was postponed earlier on Friday due to a positive case on the Lakers team.

This is now the second time in one week the Lakers will have their game either postponed or cancelled. The next scheduled game for Oswego is March 26th vs Geneseo. This was unfortunate for the Lakers as the game vs. Geneseo is the first of six scheduled SUNYAC games, meaning Oswego will have played zero games before conference play begins. If this happens, Oswego will be the only team in their division to not play a game before conference play starts. The Oswego Men’s Lacrosse Team last played Geneseo on April 20th, 2019, in a 13-14 home loss.

Oswego’s Men’s Lacrosse Team Set to Begin 2021 Season

OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Team is set to take on SUNY Oneonta on  Saturday, March 20th to kick off their 2021 season. This will be the Oswego Men’s Lacrosse team’s first action in over a year due to the pandemic. However, unlike prior seasons, conference play is set to begin earlier than ever before, starting March 26th versus Geneseo. Senior goaltender Kevin O’Donnell understands just how important these early games are to set the tone for the rest of the  season. 

“With SUNYACs coming up so soon and those being the most important games for our team,  the level of expectancy exceeds any other season in my opinion,” O’Donnell said. “Especially  with the teams were playing, Morrisville, Oneonta, and then the rest of the SUNY division, it’s  important that were on our A-game.” 

O’Donnell is now a team captain and is looking to surpass 400 career saves in the coming games. 

Being that this is the Lakers first game since March of 2020, it’s important that they eliminate  any mistakes or confusion they might have. Head Coach Drew Bezek, who is going into his 7th season on the coaching staff, believes his team needs to master their game plan early on in order to be successful.  

“With early season games, it’s always about limiting mistakes and doing what we need to do. A  lot of times with the beginning part of the season, you’re not so worried about your competition  and what they run. It’s us being super-efficient and consistent at what we’re trying to do.” 

Although many things are different this season for the players, coaches, and staff, film sessions and scouting remain an important aspect of Oswego’s success. However, since teams only played a few games in 2020, the Lakers will have to anticipate Oneonta’s game plan based off  what they saw from early last year. 

Coach Bezek said, “We’ll treat this year similar to the past where for the first game of the year,  your kind of going off tendencies from the previous year. We’re not going to know some of their  new players, but from the film, we could try to piece together how they run their system.” 

The Lakers have won their last four games vs. Oneonta dating back to 2016 and look to extend their win streak to five on Saturday.

Package Aired Thursday 3/18/21 on Nightly News

SUNYAC announces return of Spring Sports

OSWEGO, NY — Tuesday afternoon, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced that the SUNYAC conference will be returning on March 20th with spring sports. The sports of baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field will all return as all of their seasons were cancelled last year when the COVID-19 pandemic begun.

The conference will be split into east and west divisions to limit travel and cost expenditures. The divisions will be based on geographic location with Interstate-81 being used to split New York state in two. For the sports of Women’s lacrosse and softball, two five team divisions will be used. Since Fredonia and Buffalo State do not sponsor men’s lacrosse programs, Cortland will compete in the west division and there will only be four teams per division. Lastly, women’s tennis will be without Buffalo State and Potsdam due to their lack of teams.

The other details that were announced yesterday regarding this decision revolve around logistical aspects of this season. Masks will be warn at all time except during the heat of the competition. No spectators will be allowed to watch games in person due to current New York State Department of Health guidelines. There will be regular weekly testing through each campus for athletes and team officials. Along with that, athletes will be tested three days prior to road trips. On those trips, no eating will be allowed on the buses and capacity must be reduced to 50 percent. During the game, there should be no handshakes and group celebrations.

SUNYAC Commissioner Tom DiCamillo stated that there will be more guidelines announced later along with schedules for every team and school. As of right now, the season will be opened with two women’s lacrosse match ups as Cortland plays Plattsburgh and Potsdam travels to Oneonta. WTOP 10 will continue to deliver news regarding SUNYAC spring sports in the future.

Men’s Lacrosse stays undefeated with win over Alfred

ALFRED, NY — The Men’s Lacrosse team improves to 2-0 on the season as the group picked up a thrilling road win against Alfred Wednesday afternoon. The 12-11 victory keeps the Lakers undefeated as the team took a 3-2 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Saxons would try to make it interesting in the third quarter as the home team buried 4 goals on the Lakers, but Oswego would come away with the victory at the end of regulation. The Lakers were led by Weston Gray would have a five point game as the sophomore had three goals and two assists. Jack Delany also netted three goals for Oswego and Liam Dollard had a three point performance. Goaltender Kevin O’Donnell would make 10 saves in the victory.

The Lakers return home as the group prepares for a Tuesday afternoon match up in Potsdam, New York to face off against Clarkson. The undefeated Knights face off against the Rochester Institute of Technology this Saturday for their first conference match up of the season. Oswego will face the Knights at 4 p.m. up in North Country.

Men’s Lacrosse wins season opener against Hartwick

OSWEGO, NY — Men’s Lacrosse kicked off their season this past Sunday at home against Hartwick. The game that got moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather featured a Laker win with a final score of 10-9. The Lakers took an early lead in the first quarter as Oswego was up 3-1 after the first 15 minutes of play. The Lakers would keep that lead the rest of the game as the team would score two or more goals every quarter to finish off the Hawks. The non-conference win was led by Kyle Bacon as the senior tallied five goals in the game. Senior Dan Doolan also had two goals and one assist in the victory. Netminder Kyle O’Donnell would save 24 shots and hold a .727 save percentage in between the pipes for Oswego.

Men’s Lacrosse will go on the road this Wednesday to face off against Alfred State for another non-conference game. Last year, the Lakers defeated the Saxons in Alfred 11-7 which ended their four game losing streak against Alfred. The Lakers will return home on March 14th to face off against St. John Fisher at 3 p.m. at Laker Stadium.

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