The Oswego State women’s soccer team want to put last season on the back burner, after going 3-14 and finishing 1-8 in the SUNYAC. Although it has struggled for the past couple of seasons, this fall could have been a step forward for the program. 

Offensively, this team has many capable goal scorers, but nobody has been better than senior Lynsey Roth over the past two seasons. Charting 11 goals in the past two seasons, along with two assists, Roth has been the focal point for the Lakers since joining the team in 2017. 

When Roth began her career as a Laker, she noticed that the communication between players played a big part in the team’s success. Now, as Roth steps into the spotlight as a leader on this team, her goal is to make sure everyone has an equal voice to improve the communication on and off the field.

“Our biggest thing was leadership,” Roth said. “We lacked leadership and the communication wasn’t there. [This season] we are definitely going to work harder on building a team bond off the field in order to have stable relationships on the field. I feel with the group we have now, we are already on the right page. Everyone is comfortable.”

In her first season, head coach Brian McGrane slotted Roth in an offensive role where she proceeded to challenge opposing goalkeepers, registering 48 shots and 23 of which were on goal while netting two of them. When Roth played at Liverpool High School in Liverpool, she was an outstanding defender and did not have much experience as a forward until arriving at Oswego State. 

“Her versatility, that is the beauty of her game,” McGrane said. “She has really good pace, she is a deceivingly quick player and pretty technical. Her work rate is really good.”

McGrane thinks very highly of his senior forward and knows that she is a leader on this team. Roth is not the only player on this team with a massive leadership role either.

 Another leader of this team has been senior Sophia Portalatin. Portalatin would have been the starter between the pipes this fall, a position she has fought hard for over her Oswego State career.

Last season, Portalatin played in eight games, starting in five, and had a .824 save percentage. Her one win came in the last game against Buffalo State, when she turned away eight shots on goal to post a clean sheet. Not only is Portalatin the team’s rock on the field, but she is also a spark plug for the exciting bunch

“I can look at any single one of those girls in the locker room, and I see the expression on their faces,” Portalatin said. “I see that passion. I see that excitement. That is what fuels that [energy level] for me, and then I know that I’m doing what I need to do to make them feel ready to get onto the field.”

Portalatin and Roth would have been the two senior captains this season if it were not for COVID-19 that stopped all SUNYAC play until Jan. 1. Although, that did not stop them from forming a stronger team bond and pushing each other during the offseason. 

“As a team, we used the Nike Run app to track each other’s miles throughout the offseason to make sure everyone was running,” Portalatin said. “Me and my housemates [on the team] went for runs together, used resistance bands in our backyard, set up cones and even hopped between the cracks in our street. We used everything possible to get ourselves prepared for the season physically.”

Photo By Tom Pemrick | The Oswegonian