The Lakers won a pair of home games this weekend against Utica College and Alfred State College by scores of 3-2 and 3-0 respectively. The Lakers performed strongly in the second halves of both games, increasing their record to 4-2.
With these two victories, the Lakers have already matched their home win total from last season. Senior forward Nikki Liadka scored two more goals, giving her eight in just six games this season.
The Lakers dominated Alfred State in the second half on Saturday, scoring twice and keeping the ball almost exclusively in Alfred State’s half of the field en route to a commanding 3-0 win.
Liadka’s goal in the 61st minute was the capstone of a 15-minute spell of suffocating pressure that Oswego State placed on Alfred State, which created multiple scoring chances, including Liadka’s goal.
Liadka scored from the top of the 18-yard box, calmly slotting home a pass from junior Georgia Traynor.
“She’s been great,” head coach Brian McGrane said, referring to Liadka’s red-hot start this season. “I don’t know how to explain it. When you’re a goal scorer, you’re a goal-scorer.”
In what was a relatively uneventful first half, freshman Erin Harding scored what would be the game-winning goal. She attempted a chip from the top left of the box that Alfred State goalie, sophomore Krista DeCarlo, misread. It was the freshman forward’s first goal of her collegiate career.
Even with Harding’s goal, the Lakers struggled to create chances and maintain pressure in the first half.
“We were a little slow, a little sluggish,” McGrane said of the first 45 minutes.
Junior Tia Segretto scored the third goal of the game at 75:07, which all but shut the door on any chances of an Alfred State comeback.
DeCarlo parried a shot from sophomore Jill Keevil, but left an open rebound in front that Segretto put home.
On Friday, Segretto, Liadka and Keevil all contributed goals in the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit and secure a 3-2 win against Utica College.
Segretto tapped in the tying goal in the 50th minute after controlling a missed shot from the wing by junior Bri Dolan.
The Lakers took the lead in the 70th minute when sophomore Bailey Waterbury sent a perfect ball straight to Liadka’s feet.
Liadka turned on a defender, blasted a shot and scored to give the Lakers the lead.
Keevil slotted home a rebound, after another Dolan shot, to double the Lakers’ lead in the 72nd minute.
Utica junior Alana Fitzpatrick scored on a scramble in front of the net in the 79th minute, but the Lakers held on for the win.
The Lakers squandered a golden opportunity to score early as Liadka missed a wide open net with the Utica goalkeeper, freshman Jamie Enders, out of the play.
This allowed Pioneers’ senior forward Sarah Southwell to score off a feed in front of the net six minutes later to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.
The weather was not doing the Lakers any favors, as they struggled to push the ball up the wet field against the typical Oswego wind.
Despite the weather conditions, the Lakers were able to dominate play after Southwell’s early goal, forcing Enders to flag down numerous crosses.
“I think it helped them a little bit,” McGrane said of the poor weather. “But I thought after the first 20 to 25 minutes we were fine.”
Waterbury believes that the weather did not have too much of an impact.
“Honestly, this was a mild day for Oswego weather,” Waterbury said. “We expected the ball to skip and our goalies knew to be ready.”
In the first half, sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Glasshagel made a pair of key stops, both from short range, to keep the Lakers in the game.
Senior Emily Varonier, coming off an injury, made her return after replacing Glasshagel at the start of the second half. Each goalie gave up one goal in the Lakers’ 3-2 victory.
After six games thus far, Oswego State has seen a breakout performance by Liadka, who leads the team with eight goals and 16 points.
Segretto is second on the team with 13 points after tallying three goals and two assists to start the season.
The Lakers (4-2) will play the final game of their current home stand against D’Youville College (3-1-2) on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. before heading off to SUNY New Paltz (1-3-2) the following week to begin conference play.
