By Alexander Abramovich

The Oswego State Women’s lacrosse team lost to Nazareth College by a final score of 14-10 on March 23, dropping their record to 1-6 on the season. The Lakers fought hard to secure win number two on the season, but fell just short, as Nazareth College picked up their second victory instead.

Heading into yesterday’s matchup, the Lakers knew that it was one that they could really use to revive their season after a rough start. The Lakers were fortunate enough to be able to have a season last year when other teams did not, and junior Sela Wiley believes that last season had a major impact on the team overall. 

“We have a new class this year, but last year was huge for us, as few returners that we have, we didn’t get a freshman year,” Wiley said. “It was big for us, even just having eight games just to figure out how it works, start our team’s culture and continue to build on that this year.” 

Wiley has been a huge player for this team and is one of their main leaders as well. The offense has not been an issue for the Lakers so far this season as they have had multiple outbursts of goals this season, like when they scored 23 goals in a singular contest against Morrisville State and scored 10 in a heartbreaking loss against Utica College. Junior Madison Davis has been a key part of the offense this year and is currently second on the team in points with 19, with Wiley leading the team with 20. Davis had her past two seasons canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making her performance this season even more impressive. 

“What’s been working is, I have more assists than goals, for me, it’s just connecting with good players,” Davis said. “Sela and I work really well together, when I feed her the ball, she usually finishes really well, I feel really confident when I have the ball.” 

Davis looks to continue her fantastic season, so far, strong. Confidence is key when it comes to having a winning culture on and off the field. While this has not been the most successful season for Oswego State, head coach Britt Howard believes that this team is very capable of having that winning type of culture, but it takes time to get to that point, especially with a lot of new players. 

“I think that we have a lot of new players coming into this season, so it’s just making sure everyone is on the same page, buying into the system,” Howard said. “We only had nine games last year, and we were 4-5 and we competed against some of the ranked teams in the SUNYAC. It was a good experience for the players that are returning, so they know what to expect in conference play.”

 Howard believes that her team is learning the game better with every game that passes by. The Golden Flyers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first quarter, putting Oswego behind the eight-ball early. The Lakers were able to keep it close for the rest of the half, outscoring Nazareth College 5-3 before halftime. The Lakers’ second quarter was an impressive one with goals from Logan Castiglione, Isabella Lembo and Sela Wiley scoring her second of the game.

The third quarter was one to forget for Oswego State, as they were outscored 5-1. The Lakers went from being down by only one to being down by six in just one quarter, obviously not an ideal situation for them to be heading into the final quarter. The lone goal for the Lakers in the third quarter was by Julia Quirk, her second of the game at the time.

The Lakers did their best at mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter, as they outscored the Golden Flyers 4-3. Quirk scored early in the quarter on an assist from Madison Davis to make it 11-7, but Nazareth College responded quickly to get their lead back to five. The game kept going back and forth as Oswego would keep cutting the lead to four with the Golden Flyers answering right back.

The 14-10 score did not exactly indicate how close the game actually was. If it was not for a faulty third quarter that put the Lakers in a tough position to rally, this could have been a very winnable game. Nonetheless, the Lakers dropped to 1-6 on the season and this could have been a big momentum shift in the right direction for them. 

The Lakers’ next game will be at home on the Laker Turf on March 26 against SUNY Fredonia, who has yet to win a game this season. Oswego State has a huge opportunity to get rolling, especially since they are going up against a winless team.

Photos provided by Oswego State Athletics