Lakers golf is back in action for their 2022-23 campaign and the team looks to mirror their success from last season.
The Lakers were able to grab three first-place finishes last year at the Clarkson University Invitational, Utica College Invitational and the Elmira College Spring Invitational. Their best performance came at the Clarkson University Invitational where four Lakers shot in the 70s.
This year, following a slow start at the St. Lawrence Invitational, the Oswego State golf team was able to bounce back with another strong performance at the Clarkson Invitational.
Oswego State was also able to pick up a second-place finish at the Empire 8 Spring Championship to go along with two third-place finishes, one during the fall at Elmira College and the other at the Empire 8 Conference Fall Championship.
The Lakers have two of their best players returning as graduate students, Ryan Fecco and Max Mastrogiacomo. Fecco has been dominating since his freshman year at Oswego, adding two Oswego State Male Athlete of the Week and an Empire 8 First Team All-Conference from last season to his resume. Last season he posted a season-low score of 75 at the Empire 8 Conference Fall Championships which tied him for first in that event.
The Lakers will also have sophomore Jake Owens looking to repeat his success from his first season. Owens posted a career-low score of 75 at the Oswego State Fall Invitational which helped him take fifth place. Owens was able to have five top-10 finishes in only seven tournaments played.
For their first meeting of the 2022-23 season, Oswego State was on the road at St. Lawrence University for a two-day event at Oliver D. Appleton Golf Course. After day one, Oswego State was in sixth place out of nine teams with a team score of 328 (+40), only one stroke back of third place. Owens shot the team’s best with a score of 78 (+6) which had him in seventh place, only five strokes behind the leader entering day two. Fecco finished in 11th place with a round of 79 (+7), one stroke behind Owens.
The Lakers were also able to grab three top-40 finishes from players Edward Shanahan, Oliver Wolland and Tyler Donohue.
Day two of the event saw a massive individual improvement from Fecco as he jumped from 11th to third place. He was able to improve by six strokes and shoot a 73 (+1) which gave him an overall score of 152 (+8).
Owens could not make a move on the leaders on day two as he shot an 82 (+10), bringing his total score to 160 (+16) which was good enough for a 17th place finish. As a team, Oswego State shot a 657 (+81) which gave them seventh place out of nine teams, finishing ahead of Utica College and Paul Smith College.
After the St. Lawrence Invitational, the Lakers traveled north for the Clarkson Invitational on Sept. 6 at Potsdam Town and Country Club. Oswego State shot a team score of 318 which was good enough for fourth place out of nine teams. Finishing ahead of the Lakers was St. Lawrence University’s A team who shot a team score of 307, St. Lawrence University’s B team captured second place with a team score of 310, and in third was Clarkson University with a team score of 311.
The Lakers were led by Fecco, who shot one over par (73). He was tied for first place after 18 holes and entered a three-way playoff with two St. Lawrence University players, Cooper Evans and Ben Llyod. After the first playoff hole, all three players remained tied. However, after the second playoff hole, Fecco lost medalist honors as Evans and Llyod continued to play. Evans ended up beating his teammate in the third playoff hole to pick up the first-place finish.
Owens took fifth place with a score of 75 (+3) and Mastrogiacomo took 22nd place with a score of 82 (+10).
The Lakers’ next meet will be at the St. John Fisher Invitational for a two-day event on Sept. 11 at Cobblestone Creek Country Club. Oswego State will look to improve from last year at St. John Fisher College as they finished in sixth place out of seven teams.
