For the first time since 2009, the Oswego State Lakers men’s soccer team has reached six wins in a season. The Lakers entered 2017 under new head coach Dan Kane, and he has flipped the program around. Six wins was the total for the whole 2009 season.

The Lakers have reached that mark and still have at least eight games left. “It’s been a really good start, and the guys are excited so far,” Kane said. “But they also realize we haven’t done anything yet, one win never gets you into the SUNYAC playoffs.” The Lakers know one conference win will not do it. After just one conference win, the Lakers found themselves at the bottom of the SUNYAC standings last season.

Following back-to-back weekends splitting their Friday and Saturday games, the Lakers sit at 6-2-1. After defeating New Paltz Sept. 22, 1-0 in their first SUNYAC game of the season, the Lakers already have as many conference wins as they did all of last season. This is a young team that has one graduate student and one senior, and the rest are underclassmen.

The young team, however, has proven it can play on both sides of the ball. The offense has totaled 30 goals so far, while the defense has only given up 11 goals. However, the offense has hit a bump, scoring just three goals in the past four games, going 2-2 over that span. “Our offense and defense is like my golf game. When one thing is working, another thing drops down a little,” Kane said. “Last week, in practice, we focused on the midfield defense, which was great in the games last weekend, but then our offense slowed down.”

The offense was scoring four goals per game when the Lakers entered conference play, but managed just two goals in two games last weekend. The SUNYAC is a strong conference for men’s soccer, so the recent offensive struggle is not a surprise due to the level of competition, specifically SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oneonta ranked in the top 15 of the United Soccer Coaches National Poll.

The Laker’s offense has a number of players that consistently make plays. Hassan Musa, Connor Lunduski, Caleb Asamoah, Jason Siracuse and Logan Sperano have all scored three or more goals this season. Three of those five have also accounted for at least four assists. On Saturday, the Lakers hung tight with a SUNY Oneonta team that finished second in the conference last season.

The Lakers fell short, losing 3-1. This Lakers team has a new face in goal, Brian Terra. Terra is a freshman who spent much of the early season splitting time with junior Evan Bogucki. Terra entered for Bogucki, 15 minutes into the game against St. Lawrence University on Sept. 15, following a red card handed out to Bogucki. Since then, Terra has been in net for the Lakers.

The freshman has started the past three games for Oswego, but has played in at least 75 minutes of three other games. He is allowed just seven goals in six games, going 4-2 over that span, while shutting out two teams in two of his three starts. The Lakers have a tall task ahead of them. Their next four games are on the road against SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam, Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia. SUNY Plattsburgh and Buffalo State, each have seven wins on the season.

Three of those four teams made the SUNYAC playoffs in 2016. “We like going on the road. We like challenges. Even though there’s nothing like home, We just have to stay focused on the task at hand.” Kane said. “We can’t look back or look forward. We just have to worry about that moment.”

Kane has changed the culture around this program. It was consistently subpar seasons for the Lakers, but now they are a real threat in the SUNYAC. Moving forward, Kane knows the team has to stick to how they have played through their first nine games to maintain this success. “A key for us is just continuing to stick to what’s worked to this point,” Kane said. “We also have to continue to get better during training in between games so we can keep being successful.”

The Lakers will look to take another step towards qualifying for their first trip to the SUNYAC playoffs since 2014 when they face Plattsburgh on Friday and Potsdam on Saturday.

Photo: Cole Parzych | The Oswegonian