The Oswego State women’s soccer team defeated the Clarkson University Golden Eagles on Friday at Laker Soccer Field, 2-0.
The Lakers earned their third victory of the season on Friday, after falling to St. Lawrence University earlier this week. The Lakers played a strong game from start to finish and recorded their second shutout in their last three games. Oswego State also returns to the .500 mark with this victory.
Neither the Lakers nor the Golden Eagles were able to gain an advantage early on, as the first half ended with no score. The Lakers’ defense aided junior goalie Alyssa Glasshagel, as she only needed to record one save in the first half. The scoreless game was broken up at the 59:33 minute-mark, after freshman Emma Geyer headed senior Bri Dolan’s free kick into the goal. Geyer continues her torrid start to her Oswego State soccer career, with her third goal in her first five games as a Laker.
Geyer’s quick start is certainly benefiting the team and head coach Brian McGrane can’t help but be impressed by the surprising upstart.
“She’s given us what we expected, we expected her to be this good,” McGrane said. “We knew she would be good on the field, technical and working hard, but we didn’t know she would be able to finish as much as she has.”
McGrane is not shy about expressing the team’s expectations for Geyer, as a player that will be depended on for the next three years.
“We talked in the beginning of the year about how she’s probably going to be the new face of the program,” McGrane said. “She’s a tremendous kid, all the kids are, but she is certainly a special player.”
The Golden Eagles became increasingly aggressive after the goal by Geyer, shooting 10 shots in the second half, after only 3 in the first. Perhaps the defensive highlight of the game came late in the second half, when Oswego State freshman Nicolette Larosa stepped in front of the net to deflect a would-be goal, with Glasshagel on the ground after a dive.
Oswego State would tack on another goal at 79:09, courtesy of freshman Alexa Restante. Restante’s first goal of the season would not be needed, as the Lakers would successfully run down the clock for the final ten minutes, completing the team shutout.
The Lakers now look ahead to Tuesday where they will face Hamilton College in the second of their four-straight home games. Hamilton College enters the weekend with a 3-1 record and faces Connecticut College on Saturday, before making the trip to Oswego. McGrane is aware that the Lakers will need to improve their play against a tough opponent in Hamilton.
“We have to be a lot better defensively, because offensively they are really, really good,”McGrane said. “We have to just be a little bit tighter, and not allow gaps in our midfield to play into forwards.”
McGrane also realizes that the team needs to win games consistently if they want to match their success from last year.
“We need to, because this one win, one loss thing is not going to be good for when we get into conference games,” McGrane said.
Oswego State’s match against Hamilton College begins at 4 p.m. at Laker Soccer Field.
