Oswego State dropped its second game this week with a 3-2 home loss against Williams College.

Cassie Shokar got the start in net and had a solid 36 saves on 39 shots. Several of those saves were Grade-A opportunities for the Ephs that the freshman goaltender shut down.

On the other side, Ephs goalie Chloe Heiting did not have many chances to make saves, seeing just 13 shots and stopping 11 of them. Shokar was stellar all game long for the Lakers, and her efforts were noticed by head coach Diane Dillon.

“She fights. She’s a gamer,” Dillon said. “She’s pretty limber, for lack of a better term. She can handle shot after shot after shot, and that’s due to her positioning and her size.”

Williams College wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. After a turnover in the Lakers zone, Abby Brustad punched home a goal assisted by Bri Laycock and Elizabeth Welch to put the Ephs up just 1:36 into the game. That would be it for Williams College for the first, however, as Cassie Shokar stood on her head to the tune of 15 saves, including several at close proximity.

To compete with a strong Williams College team, the Lakers needed to stay out of the penalty box. They did this in the first period, committing no penalties while drawing two. Unfortunately for Oswego State, neither power play chance yielded a goal. The Lakers only mustered five shots in the period with their best chance being a breakaway by Sara Cruise that was denied by Heiting.

“One of the questions with a young team is how do you respond after an early goal,” Dillon said.  “And after going down only two minutes in, I thought we responded well. We just don’t know how to finish yet.”

Oswego State dominated puck control and the shot battle in the second period, but it was once again Williams College adding a goal to its 1-0 lead. Annie Rush got a top-shelf wrist shot past the glove of Shokar 3:46 into the second period to give the Ephs a 2-0 lead. Oswego State won the shot battle 6-5 in the period and also drew two more penalties but were unable to score. The lack of power play production has been a theme throughout the season for the Lakers.

“Sometimes we try to make the ESPN highlight reel pass instead of keeping it simple,” Dillon said. “We’ve got to enter the zone with smart passes and get to the open shots.”

The third period was where the Lakers would come back to life. It started with another early period goal for Williams College, this time from Rush, but it would end with two unanswered goals for Oswego State.

The first was fired in from Avery Webster and the second was scored with just seven seconds remaining on a rifle from Katelynn Ferguson that would find the back of the net. Although the game ended 3-2 in favor of Williams College, the third period can be a takeaway for tomorrow’s matchup.

“The team didn’t show any quit. And we schedule teams like Williams on purpose,” Dillon said. “We want to play the tougher teams. This was a good challenge for our young team, and we really went into the game with the attitude that tonight was a playoff game.”

Fatigue will also be a factor tomorrow, as the team has been going through battling the flu recently on top of playing three games this weekend. Madison Byrne was scratched this afternoon due to the illness. However, for the Lakers, it will be all about building off that third period.

“I think the third period set the tone for tomorrow,” Dillon said.