Oswego State increased its winning streak to three on Saturday evening after defeating Elmira College, 7-3.
After the Soaring Eagles controlled the first seven minutes of play, a penalty on senior defenseman Joe Gagne turned the momentum to the Lakers.
The Lakers were one minute and 37 seconds into the man advantage when the freshman third line struck again. Oswego State freshman forward Kenny Neil sent a shot into the back of the net from the upper-left slot off a pass from teammate Shawn Hulshof.
Alex Botten was given the secondary assist on the goal.
Less than two minutes later, the Soaring Eagles found their equalizer off an offensive zone faceoff. Sophomore Michael Collins received the puck off the faceoff victory and sent it toward the bottom left corner of the net.
Fellow sophomore Jarryd ten Vaanholt was on the doorstep and stuffed the puck past Oswego State’s sophomore goalie, Justin Gilbert.
The Lakers responded by increasing their pressure on the net and continued to swarm the Soaring Eagles’ freshman goalie Sal Magliocco.
The hard work paid off, as Oswego State scored three goals in the period’s final five minutes and six seconds.
On the first score, freshman Evan Schultz worked along the boards to get the puck to the top and found junior Nick Rivait. Rivait fired the puck toward the net and Magliocco made the save, but allowed the rebound. The puck reached junior Mike Montagna, who put the puck in the net for Oswego State’s second goal.
About three minutes later, Rivait was setting up the play again as he found sophomore Morgan Bonner. Bonner and sophomore Brandon Adams worked the puck down into the low slot where they connected on a tape-to-tape pass, which Adams finished.
With a minute left in the first period, freshman Matt Galati sent a shot on goal from behind the net. The puck hit off Magliocco’s pads and bounced into the net. Schultz was awarded his second assist of the night.
In the second period, the Lakers picked up their play and further increased their lead. Their puck possession and play on the forecheck led to a serious offensive pressure and Oswego State prevailed with just under two minutes remaining in the period when Galati struck again.
Galati beat Magliocco over his left shoulder just inside the crossbar after assists from his linemates, Neil and freshman Alex Botten. The goal was Galati’s fourth of the season.
Galati’s line consists of the team’s top three scorers and he is pleased Oswego State coach Ed Gosek has kept it together.
“I give a lot of credit to Botten and Neil. We really work well together,” Galati said. “I think we’re really fortunate that coach has trust in us and is keeping us together.”
The Lakers increased their lead and secured the victory in the third period.
Oswego State senior captain Kyle Badham netted his first score of the season 47 seconds into the period. Badham and junior captain Bobby Gertsakis were rushing the net when the senior sent a shot that deflected off a defender’s stick and hit the back of the net. Bonner was credited with an assist on the play.
Badham understands the importance of his contributions to the offense. His goal was the first scored by a returning player this season.
“It feels good,” Badham said. “It’s always good to get your first goal and kind of get the monkey off your back and contribute to the score sheet.”
About five minutes later, a Galati penalty started a momentum swing for Elmira. One minute and 38 seconds later, freshman Josh Timpano was sent off as well giving the visitors 22 seconds of five-on-three play. The third-ranked team in the nation on the power play took advantage.
At the 7:50 mark, junior Josh Burnell sent the puck past Gilbert after sophomore defenseman Denton King was unable to help clear the puck out of the crease.
One second later, off the following faceoff, sophomore Brian Depp scored Elmira’s second power-play goal, cutting the Lakers’ lead in half.
The amount of time on the power play helped Elmira start to get into a rhythm, but Oswego State’s defense stood firm. With about five minutes left, King made up for his earlier fumble by blocking a Max Balaban shot at a wide open net with a full extension.
Gosek was pleased with his team’s play.
“We played well in our own end,” Gosek said. “Our transition from our own end was better tonight. Not great, but it was better. Those are the things that we’ll continue to work on. A lot of guys brought their A-game tonight, which was a positive.”
With the win, Oswego State improves to 3-1 on the season, while Elmira falls to 2-4. The Lakers are preparing for a road trip to Rochester next weekend where they are set to play SUNY Geneseo (4-1) on Friday night and The College at Brockport (2-3-1) on Saturday night.
