In their last regular season game playing at Laker field, seniors Mike Brewster and Mike Recor outshined the competition.

Oswego State men’s lacrosse, in the last regular season game of the year on April 25, handled SUNY Oneonta by a score of 12-6 in the last game that the eight graduating seniors on the roster will play at home.

"These guys are just a great group of guys," coach Dan Witmer said of the seniors. "They have 32 years of collegiate lacrosse experience among them."

The Lakers premier goal scorer this season, senior midfielder Mike Recor, continued his impressive season with five goals, three of them unassisted, in a crucial third quarter in which the Lakers took command of the game. Recor finished the regular season with a team-high 37 goals and 77 shots on goal, and has been an essential player in the 5-2 SUNYAC record that has translated to a playoff bid. The impressive SUNYAC record has landed the Lakers a number three seed in the SUNYAC playoffs, a feat that Recor said was partly due to the chemistry of the upperclassmen.

"We had a lot of seniority and leadership bringing us together as a team throughout the season," Recor said.

Teammate and fellow senior Mike Brewster added three goals and an assist, bringing his season points total to a team-high 46 on the season.

Oswego State didn’t immediately start the game showcasing the firepower of the seniors. Instead, they took control of the tempo of the game and specialized in ball control, keeping shots away from goalie Judd Robinson. In the first half, Oswego State out-shot Oneonta 21 to 15, dominated ground balls and claimed nearly half the turnovers. They also stayed out of penalty trouble with only one in the first half as compared to Oneonta’s five.

If the first half was any indication of the Lakers desire to finally produce a win against Oneonta for the first time since 1997, the beginning of the second half was the clincher. Recor took matters into his own hands, scoring two unassisted goals in the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter and adding another in the final two minutes of the quarter to extend the lead to 8-2.

Oneonta gave the Laker defense a scare in the fourth quarter with early, unassisted goals from junior midfielder Matthew Harvey and sophomore midfielder Brian Kollar. Penalties plagued the Lakers in the second half, tallying seven for a combined six and a half minutes, which gave Oneonta offensive opportunities in the final quarter. The Red Dragons out-shot Oswego State in the final period 17-6, which resulted in four late goals for Oneonta.

However, after the early two goals to start the fourth from Oneonta, Brewster and Recor each added goals to put the game out of reach and secure the final regular season win of their careers.

"Our guys stayed composed and I thought we had a good game," Brewster said.

Oswego State, finishing in third place of the final SUNYAC standings, will travel to Cortland to play the semifinal round of the SUNYAC playoffs. Witmer believes, after a strong final regular season performance from his team, that they are ready for the challenge.

"It was really important to get this win," Witmer said. "Sometimes we would only play two or three quarters of good lacrosse and not all 60 minutes, but today we did play all four quarters."

The men’s lacrosse season came to a close on April 29 as they lost in the semifinal round of the SUNYAC playoffs by a score of 25-3 to nationally ranked Cortland. The Red Dragons dominated the matchup, winning 23 of 32 faceoffs and out-shooting the Lakers 64 to 17 in the game. Oswego State received goals from Brad Teal, Marcus Peworchik and Britt Leone.