"The Oswego State men’s lacrosse team dug themselves too deep of a hole in each of its two games against second-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology and SUNY Potsdam, losing 11-5 and 11-7, respectively.
"The Lakers’ opportunity to upset RIT was thwarted by 11 unanswered goals on Saturday at a rain-soaked Laker Field on Senior Day.
"The Tigers held the Lakers scoreless for more than 47 minutes stretching from the first quarter to the fourth after Oswego State took the early lead on a goal by junior attacker/midfielder Casey Balzer 54 seconds into the game.
"The Lakers fired 22 shots before junior midfielder Britt Leone found the back of the net, beating RIT goalie Anthony Deleo, who came in to replace starting goalie Robert Tonnessen to start the fourth quarter. Balzer assisted on Leone’s 13th goal of the season to cut the lead to nine.
"Trailing 1-0 early in the first period, RIT’s Chris Cherami scored a pair of goals a little over two minutes apart from one another to give the Tigers a lead they would not surrender for the remainder of the game. Cherami’s two goals were followed by back-to-back goals by A.J. Tingle to give the Tigers a three-goal lead. Both of Tingle’s goals were scored with the extra man. The Tigers finished 3-for-5 with the extra man, while the Lakers were unable to score on any of its six chances.
"Tingle, Tyler Russell and Jordan MacIntosh led the offensive charge for the Tigers. Tingle finished with four goals while Russell added two goals and two assists and MacIntosh recorded four assists. Russell scored his 41st and 42nd goals of the season in the third quarter to extend RIT’s lead to seven. Russell leads the team in goals with 15 more than MacIntosh, who has 27. The leading goal scorers for the Lakers are freshman attacker Chris Porten and sophomore attacker Mark Briggs, who each have 14 goals this season.
"Tingle’s third goal came in between both of Russell’s goals. He would tally his fourth goal of the game with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter to give the Tigers a 10-1 lead. Taylor Wisman scored just his third goal of the season for the Tigers less than a minute into the fourth quarter for RIT’s final goal of the contest. All but two of RIT’s goals were assisted.
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"With the game well in hand, RIT went to its bench, allowing the Lakers to tally a few inconsequential goals to make the score more respectable. After Balzer scored to break the 11-goal run by the Tigers, senior midfielder Pat Decker scored his 10th goal of the season with 5:22 remaining in the game. Decker recorded the assist on Oswego State’s third goal scored by freshman attacker Tyler Calkin with 2:36 remaining in the fourth quarter. Junior defenseman Andy Preischel scored his first goal of the season with just 14 seconds remaining in the game. Only two of Oswego State’s five goals were credited with an assist.
"Oswego State junior goalie Ian O’Brien played all 60 minutes, finishing with 16 saves in a losing effort. Tonnessen earned the win in net for the Tigers in 45 minutes of work, recording 12 saves and allowing only one goal. Deleo worked the final 15 minutes of the game, finishing with two saves and allowing four goals.
"While most of the statistical categories were close to equal, there were two categories where the Tigers had a clear advantage: shots and turnovers. The Tigers outshot the Lakers 37-29 in the game, including 25-12 between the second and third quarters. RIT’s defense held the Lakers to less than 10 shots in each quarter. Turnovers plagued Oswego State during the second and third quarter. The Lakers committed seven turnovers in the second quarter and eight turnovers in the third quarter en route to a 24-turnover game. The Lakers average 17.5 turnovers per game. During the same two quarters, the Tigers committed just three turnovers, none of which occurred in the third quarter.
"A slow start again hurt the Lakers on Tuesday against Potsdam, falling behind 3-0 within the first eight minutes of the game. Oswego State never led during the contest and got as close as two goals, but a five-goal third period allowed the Bears to pull away, dropping the Lakers to 0-5 in SUNYAC.
"Potsdam goalie Pat Corbine proved to be a thorn in the side for the Laker offense, recording 10 saves to earn the win in net. Oswego State heavily outshot the Bears, 48-28, including a 13-4 margin in the fourth quarter.
"All of the major statistical categories favored the Lakers except for two: goals scored and faceoffs won. The Lakers managed to win just six faceoffs the entire game. Potsdam’s Zeppy O’Geen won 13 of his 19 faceoffs and Tyler Flath was a perfect 3-for-3. Freshman Craig Martin, Oswego State’s main faceoff specialist, won just five of 17 faceoffs.
"Trailing 3-0 halfway through the first quarter, junior midfielder Britt Leone got the Lakers on the board with 4:44 remaining in the quarter. Junior attacker/midfielder Casey Balzer nearly cut the lead to one, but his shot ricocheted off the crossbar. A minute later, Potsdam’s Ryan Paparella scored the first of his two goals to extend the lead back to three.
"Junior attacker Andy Lever scored the game’s only extra-man goal in the third period to cut the Bears lead to 6-4 after Potsdam’s Jeff Love was called for holding. Lever’s goal was answered by five unanswered goals scored by the Bears to push their lead to 11-4 with 11:18 remaining in the fourth quarter. O’Green scored twice and Robbie Ashlaw, Pat Mahar and Derek Frost each contributed goals during the run. All five goals were unassisted.
"Leone attempted to bring the Lakers back with back-to-back goals to trim the Bears lead to 11-6 with 6:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. Junior midfielder Brad Teal added a goal with 2:14 remaining, but the Lakers could not muster another goal.
"Leone led the Lakers with three goals, while Ashlaw paced the Bears offense with two goals and two assists for a four-point game.
"The Lakers have one final chance to earn their first conference win of the season when they travel to Brockport to play the Golden Eagles on Saturday, April 30.
