Three games remain in the SUNYAC men’s lacrosse schedule this season. Oswego State has those three games to try and salvage the impressive 6-1 start the team got off to in non-conference games.

That 6-1 mark was unprecedented in the Drew Bezek era. In the three years prior of contests before the first SUNYAC matchup, Oswego went 4-2 in 2015, 3-5 in 2016 and 3-5 in 2017. The next step of the impressive freshman class correlates to this jump in record.

“It was a lot of good experience with the non-conference [schedule] for those guys,” Bezek said. “Obviously, we need to translate it into the conference games, but I think it was huge for how much time they got on the field and the play that they’ve had. Hopefully it will result in some more wins here for us.”

It has not translated to the conference portion of the 2018 slate, however. The Lakers could not match up with the offense of the No. 16 SUNY Cortland Red Dragons Wednesday, losing 11-4 after five goals in the first 3:50 of the first quarter.

SUNY Cortland is always the team to beat in the SUNYAC, so not being able to knock them off is nothing new. The SUNYAC website has the conference tournament bracket dating back to 2002, and SUNY Cortland has at least made the finals in every one of those years.

Plattsburgh State took home the conference trophy last season, ending the Red Dragons’ nine-year reign of SUNYAC dominance. But in this 16-year stretch, SUNY Cortland has won 13 times. SUNY Geneseo has claimed two trophies. Plattsburgh State has the other.

SUNYAC games are a whole new beast, compared to the start of the season, with these top-heavy results.

“It’s a dog fight, every single game that we have,” Bezek said. “And you can look at the scores. Every game seems to be within three or four goals. Our first two were games that we were tied 6-6 or 6-5 with late into the game. It’s a couple plays here or there that [determine] the end result.”

The Lakers had encouraging spurts during Wednesday’s contest, but the roster Oswego State has is dependent on the success of underclassmen, for the most part.  This group is still getting acclimated to this conference’s play.

“You notice the competitive edge of both games being stronger, especially against our first two opponents, two main rivals that we always have close games with,” freshman goalie Kevin O’Donnell said. “They are noticeably bigger games, and they are important for us to advance where we want to advance.”

Oswego State’s 0-3 record does not lend itself to a postseason berth, though. Since Bezek has taken over the program in 2015, there has not been a team in the SUNYAC that has started 0-3 and finished in the top four. In all three postseasons, there has been at least one team in with a 3-3 record.

The Lakers were not out of the game early on Wednesday, but went 19-22 on clears while the Red Dragons were a perfect 22-22.

O’Donnell mentioned this week that the transition game needs to be cleaned up.

Oswego State committed fewer turnovers (14 compared to SUNY Cortland’s 17), but the Lakers did not win the possession battle before the game was out of reach. Oswego State kept the groundball battle close (29-27, Cortland) as well as the faceoff battle (10-8 Cortland).

“The discipline piece is huge, and then it’s the fundamentals,” Bezek said. “Turnovers are going to kill us, like we said, the detailed pieces are really what’s going to determine whether we put ourselves in a good spot or not.”

SUNY Cortland gave the Lakers six man-up chances and failed to capitalize. They were disciplined and only allowed the Red Dragons one look while a man up.

“The details matter,” Bezek said.  “When it comes down to the end of the game, all the details are the important piece, and that’s what is going to change whether you win or you lose and the results that we get.”

This failure to capitalize is one thing that kept the Lakers from getting this game closer, but this Saturday gives the team a chance to rebound.

“It shows a lot of their character, but we come out hard in practice the next day,” senior attackman Tyler Nason said. “That’s the big thing; how we bounce back from it.”

Despite having nearly no room for error, Nason is confident in his team down the stretch.

“We definitely believe we can win SUNYACs,” Nason said. “It’s just if we come out to play. That’s the big thing.”

Photo: Kyle Hurley | The Oswegonian