As the Oswego State Lakers squared off with the William Smith College Herons this past afternoon nobody really expected this one to have nine goals. Well it did, and the Lakers couldn’t hold on after a late collapsed gave them their fifth straight loss.

The Herons opened the scoring in this one at the 3:50 mark of the first period. Catherine Linehan was the the beneficiary of an unlucky hop. Tori Trovato reached back with her stick as she was sliding across the crease to make the initial save, but Linehan was there to tap it in. Grace Durhaman was given the assist on the opening tally after a stat correction. William Smith moved to 7-1-1 on the year when scoring the first goal.

“Their first goal was a funky bounce off a skate, right to an open player,” Coach Dillon said.

Oswego State was the better team in the first period and got some quality looks on the power play. The Lakers had a 5-on-3 chance but nothing would fall. They hit the crossbar and that shot somehow ended up in the legs of Maggie Salmon who was able to cover it. A puck rang off the outside of the right post as well. The inability to be able to cash in on the power play could be looked back upon as a reason for the Lakers’ loss as they watch tape on this game.

“They created,” Dillon said. “We had some nice looks. They moved the puck well; they were a little bit more patient. We got the looks that we wanted, just gotta bury the shots.”

The Lakers were feeling good in the middle frame of this one. Oswego State tallied three unanswered goals to pull ahead.

Ashley Lyman scored her first goal since Nov. 14 in a loss to Utica College. Bailee Goodon sprung a 2-on-1 with good neutral zone movement as she found Alyssa Brockmann jumping up in the play. Brockmann got Salmon to commit and then slid the puck over to Lyman who had almost the entire 4×6 opening to shoot at.

At times tonight the Lakers secured the puck and set up some good looks that helped set up goals. The first showing of those results came at the 14:07 mark. Good passing around the perimeter from Monica Cramer and Olivia Ellis helped set up Alli Ullrich who got her point shot to go in through traffic.

“She [Cramer] had more time and space and hung onto it, set up the one goal,” Dillon said. “Instead of just flinging the puck because I think I’ve got pressure on me.”

The Lakers would add an insurance marker just under a minute later as Andrea Noss was in the right place at the right time. The puck hit her skate and gave the Lakers a 3-1 lead.

At the 19:16 mark of the third period Kiley Fewster would pull the Herons within one. Another big rebound from Tess Madarasz shot led to the fourth goal of the period.  This late marker was reason to address major issues in the Oswego State room during intermission.

“These guys [William Smith] are not going to quit, neither are we,” Dillon said. “We’ve got the lead going into the third, it’s a 20 minute hockey game. We focused on the things that have been working for us and we really focused on defensively what we would do in certain situations.”

The start of the third period led to a 3-3 tie as Grace Durham put one five-hole in on Trovato.

“A little lapse and just like that you pop open the door just a little bit and they run right in,”  Dillon said. “They scored quickly to tie it up, it changes everything.”

The Lakers had an answer, just 24 seconds later. Brianna Rice ripped a shot that the weak glove of Salmon couldn’t hold then hit off the post. The loose puck was put in by a charging Brennan Butler to take the lead right back.

This lead would hold for a while despite the Lakers being out shot in the final frame. Trovato made a couple of big saves but with just 43.2 seconds to go in regulation the Herons tied it. They had the extra attacker out and it paid off. The captain, Krista Federow, scored her ninth goal of the year as the puck flipped up over Trovato and in.

The Lakers took a timeout to regroup after the late goal and the huge momentum shift. The Lakers tried to end this one in regulation, however.

“[The message] was trying to create an offensive opportunity quickly, see what we can do and defensively making sure we didn’t give up an odd man rush in those last few seconds,” Dillon said.

The game would go into overtime and at the 2:16 mark of OT Lindsay Brown corralled the juicy rebound from the Hedi Droste shot to beat the diving Trovato and the glove of Alli Ullrich. Heartbreaking defeat.

Yet Again

It seems like the same old story for Laker hockey this year, both teams that is. They play good at times but just can’t seem to put together a full 60 minute game. Blowing a two goal and a one goal lead is just demoralizing.

“I think at times we did very well with things but, overall as a team we gotta tighten up defensively,” Dillon said. We can’t give up five goals in a game. On our home ice, it is unacceptable.”

The Lakers have yet to win a game in ECAC West play since the winter recess. They are 0-6-1 in that stretch and now sit five points out of fourth place while being up by just two points on the six seeded, Cortland Red Dragons.

Positives

There were positives to take from this game. The biggest one being that the Lakers were able to put up four goals. Before this point they only scored one in conference play in this dreaded stretch. The power play also looked good tonight but just couldn’t finish. There were also negatives in this one but, overall the Lakers have something to build on as the season comes to an end.

Faceoffs were also huge positive in this game. The Lakers won 51 draws to the Herons 17. This led to a lot of offensive chances and helped the Lakers score the four goals they did.

Injury Bug

This season is definitely taking a toll on the Lakers. Sarah Grupp, who played an excellent game today and was originally credited with an assist until it was changed to Bailee Goodon, was dressed as the extra forward and had to fill in for Lydia Cosgrove. Cosgrove fell awkwardly into the boards and left the game and did not return. Possibly could be a concussion but her neck is bothering her and most likely will not play tomorrow.

Brianna McFall has been missing from the Laker defense who played with five girls tonight. She has been dealing with a knee injury that has kept her out since Jan. 15.

Mariah Madrigal was seen on crutches during the game. She was injured during practice this week and it is uncertain when she will be able to return.

The Back End

Defense was definitely an issue tonight and Coach Dillon was very upset with her D core tonight but two defenders did step up and contributed offensively. Alyssa Brockmann was stepping up on the rush and tallied two assists tonight. Alli Ullrich scored her third goal of the year and that puts her tied for third on the team in scoring. She is so good on both ends of the ice, especially when he quarterbacks the power play.

My Three Stars

1- Lindsay Brown

How could you not give the game winning goal scorer the first star? Her second goal of the year helped beat the Oswego State Lakers for the first time in this young program’s history.

2- Grace Durham

Durham tallied six shots on the day with a +2 rating. She also tallied an assist and scored to tie the game early in the third. She matched her point total on the year and was very good today offensively, and that is something the sophomore doesn’t see everyday.

3- Alyssa Brockmann

The defenseman tallied two shots and two assists tonight while also walking away with a +1 rating. She was originally credited with three assists but one of the many stat corrections took away her final helper. She was one of the better Laker defenders tonight and has been solid all year.

What We Learned

The Lakers took baby steps in the right direction tonight. Lets be real though, they couldn’t hold on and lost to William Smith. The Herons are now on a four game win streak but, this is still a team the Lakers should’ve beat. Trovato would’ve liked to have a couple of those back and be able to control some rebounds but the defense didn’t help her out and that’s why Oswego State lost. Giving up five goals to a team that scores just around two a game is a bad sign for the Lakers. If the Lakers can tighten up defensively tomorrow I do like their chances.

Oswego State will travel to Geneva tomorrow to take on William Smith College again at 4 p.m. at The Cooler, which has been enclosed after the 2007 renovations. Hopefully it isn’t as cold.