The Oswego State women’s soccer team guaranteed at least a .500 record with a 1-0 victory over St. Lawrence on Tuesday. The win was the ninth of the year for the Lakers, who improved to 7-1 in non-conference play.
“This was a really good win for our program and it gave us a lot of confidence,” head coach Brian McGrane said. “St. Lawrence is a very good team and they are coming off a recent win where they defeated the 16th ranked team in the country.”
Senior captain Laura Ambron scored in the sixth minute and was the only goal the Lakers needed to prevail over the Saints. It was Ambron’s first goal of the season, which was not only the game’s deciding goal, but gave the senior an opportunity to have one last special moment on her team’s home field.
“It felt good to score today, I’m a little upset that today is the last game at home, but it felt good all the same,” Ambron said.
The score was a one-on-one with Saints goalie Abby van Geldern off a go-ahead pass from junior forward Shelly Bateman, whom is second on the team in points this season.
Defense prevailed the rest of the way for the Lakers en route to their fifth shutout of the season, the third by junior goalkeeper Emily Varonier.
“The girls looked phenomenal today,” Ambron said. “It was a team win with everyone’s effort, even the girls on the bench.”
Coming off two straight losses to conference opponents SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo, the Lakers maintained the same strategy going into Tuesday’s contest.
“We put a new system in before last Friday and we played very well with it in place over the weekend,” McGrane said. “Luckily we were able to perfect it over the week in time to for the last home game.”
After halftime, the Lakers remained under control and killed clock by having possession of the ball for a majority of the second half.
“We knew they were going to try and push numbers in the second half so we had to come out and try to get a second goal,” McGrane said.
The team has already improved immensely from a 7-10-1 record last season and the highest points have yet to be reached.
The Lakers have two games remaining in the 2011 season before the team parts way with its eight seniors. The Lakers will travel to SUNY Cortland on Saturday, Oct. 22, who is the No. 1 in the SUNYAC, for their final conference game of the season, before closing out the year with an away game against Clarkson. A strategy that is easier said than done was put in place for the former of the two games.
“When we play Cortland this weekend we’re trying to knock them from the ranks,” McGrane said.
