The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team shot out to an early first half lead and fought off a late surge by Elmira College in a 17-14 victory on Monday.
The Lakers (6-6 overall, 0-3 SUNYAC) struggled to take care of the ball as they committed 24 turnovers. The Soaring Eagles (6-10 overall) struggled to keep up with the Lakers fast-paced attack.
Oswego State jumped out to an 11-6 halftime lead and saw their lead grow to as much as 17-9 in the second half. Elmira came firing back late as they narrowed the deficit to three with 42 seconds left. The Lakers did just enough late in the game to secure the victory.
"It’s a win, and everyone got to get in," head coach Brandi Ostrander said. "We know the mistakes we made and we know what we need to improve to do better the rest of the week."
Along with the turnovers, the Lakers struggled clearing the ball as they went 15-for-25 in clearing opportunities.
"A lot of it has to do with conditioning," Ostrander said. "My defenders need to explode off the ball better. They’re not doing it. They are scanning 20 people to see who is open."
Despite the frustrations, Ostrander has confidence that her team can fix their mistakes in time for an important week.
"I have faith in my team," Ostrander said. "I know that they’re going to pull it out. We have tons of huge games left this season."
The Oswego State scoring attack was led by senior midfielder Jessica Zenzel, who registered three goals and three assists, while sophomore attacker Erin Cummings added four goals. Two-goal scorers for the Lakers included: sophomore attacker Kristen Darcy, senior attacker Marisa Audley, junior attacker Maria Martusewich, senior midfielder Andrea Musso and freshman attacker Stephanie Cronk.
"We have four games this week," Ostrander said. "It got to the point where I have to save people’s legs. I’ve got to rotate people in and out. Today was a learning process where I threw people in places they may not normally be used."
Despite not playing their best, the Lakers still earned their sixth win of the season, are learning and trying to stay positive moving forward.
"A win’s a win," Ostrander said. "We all walked away saying ‘I know we won, but it feels like we lost,’ because we didn’t play to our potential. We didn’t play our game. Everybody on the team knows it, but its just a matter of them knowing it and stepping up, overcoming these issues and doing well the rest of the week."
The Lakers traveled to SUNY Potsdam Tuesday, losing 19-17, despite a hard-fought comeback. Oswego State continues its four-game SUNYAC road trip Friday, April 23, at Buffalo State.
They return home Saturday, May 1, for Senior Day against SUNY New Paltz.
