The Oswego State men’s lacrosse team dropped its fourth consecutive game on Saturday, a 14-6 home defeat at the hands of SUNY Geneseo. The Blue Knights’ sophomore attacker Sam Thompson led his team with four goals and an assist.
The Lakers (6-6, 1-3 SUNYAC) were done in by Geneseo’s offensive outburst in the second quarter. Oswego State was outscored 7-1 and went into halftime facing a six-goal deficit. Thompson struck for two goals and his lone assist during the quarter. The Lakers’ only goal came from sophomore midfielder Connor Khammar, on an assist from sophomore attacker Cody Hoose.
Hoose said the Lakers were outscored in the second because of self-inflicted mistakes.
“We had unforced errors that we hurt ourselves with,” Hoose said. “Like my coach says, we can’t score unless we have the ball, and we did a poor job of possessing the ball and keeping it out of our defensive end.”
Down 8-2 to start the second half, Oswego State stepped up offensively, but the team’s defense continued to struggle. The Lakers scored three times, but allowed four more for Geneseo. Thompson was key once again for the Blue Knights (5-5, 2-1 SUNYAC), as he once again struck for two goals.
After a barrage of scoring in the second and third quarters, neither team scored until the final three minutes of the game. Geneseo scored to take a 13-5 advantage, and then followed that up with another goal with 27 seconds remaining. The Lakers struck with five seconds left on a goal from senior captain and attacker Casey Balzer, who was assisted by junior captain and attacker Chris Porten.
Although the game ended in a blowout, the Lakers were competitive in the opening quarter. Porten started the scoring at the 6:33 mark in the first quarter off a pass from Balzer. Geneseo responded just under four minutes later with its first goal of the contest, as sophomore midfielder Zach Yehl was able to get the ball past Oswego State junior goalie Bryan Martin. After Yehl’s goal, the Lakers would not regain the lead for the remainder of the game.
“As a team, I don’t feel as if we reached our full potential that game,” Hoose said. “We turned the ball over too many times, and had unforced errors that we are currently working on every day in practice.”
No Laker scored more than one goal in the contest. Balzer was the only Laker to record more than one assist (two), to go along with his one goal. Hoose, Porten and Khammar each recorded a goal and an assist. Junior midfielder Nick Giampaolo and sophomore midfielder Jimmy Cordon also each recorded a goal.
Yehl was the only Blue Knight other than Thompson to register more than one goal, as he struck for two. Sophomore attackers Steven Cregan and Brent Lawless led Geneseo with two assists apiece.
Martin spent the entire game in goal for the Lakers. He allowed 14 goals and recorded nine saves on the way to taking the loss. His record for the season is now at 6-5.
Blue Knights junior goalie Ryan Zaremba was in goal for a majority of the game, just under 54 minutes. He allowed five goals and stopped 12 shots. Senior Michael Greubel relieved Zaremba for the final six minutes, allowing a goal with two saves.
Oswego State lost its following game on Wednesday against St. John Fisher to drop the team to .500 overall. The Cardinals took a 9-6 tilt from the Lakers, whose losing skid extended to five. Once again, no member of Oswego State scored more than one goal, but Cordon took over the team lead in goals as he scored his 22nd, while Hoose was not able to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Lakers will return to the field against SUNY Oneonta on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Laker Field in an attempt to stop the losing streak. It will be Oswego State’s final conference home game this season.
The Lakers are currently a half-game out of the playoffs, and a win against Oneonta will do wonders to improve their chances. Oswego State is sitting at the No. 6 spot in the SUNYAC.
The Red Dragons are also a half-game out with a 1-3 conference record, but are behind Oswego State because of their overall record of 3-9.
“Our coaching staff is working very hard to get us prepared for the biggest game of the year, Saturday against Oneonta,” Hoose said. “Everyone works hard in practice, and if we play to our potential, we can be a very good team that can do damage to any team that we play.”
