Coming off back-to-back wins last week, the Oswego State women’s lacrosse team continued their home stretch into conference play this week.

The Lakers welcomed SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Fredonia to Laker Turf Stadium.

The Lakers took on the 5-3 Hawks on March 25. Two-sport athlete Kate McNally started off the scoring with a goal for the Lakers four minutes into the contest. After a back-and-forth first quarter the score would be tied at two. The Hawks built some momentum early in the second with three straight goals to take a 5-2 lead. 

With the Lakers down by three, senior and team leader in points, Sela Wiley would get the comeback started for Oswego as she netted her first goal of the game. In the third quarter, senior Shae McConnell took over, scoring three goals to extend the Lakers’ lead to 8-5 heading into the fourth quarter. The Lakers added three more goals to pile on nine unanswered goals and complete the comeback with an 11-5 win. New Paltz had no answers for the Lakers’ spark in the offense as junior goalie Sarah Kamide shut out the Hawks in the second half, finishing with four saves. The Lakers outshot the Hawks 26-15, caused seven more turnovers and won 15 more groundballs. 

After the Lakers win against New Paltz, the team and head coach Britt Howard turned their attention to their next opponent, 5-5 SUNY Fredonia. Howard knows every SUNYAC matchup is going to be high energy and every game feels like a rivalry game. 

“Fredonia is always going to come out to play, they are scrappy and I keep preaching to my team we have to come out and play a full 60 minutes, it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” said Howard. “We have to play our game and work the ball from one end of the field to the other.” 

Just over a minute into the game, Isabella Lembo and McConnell scored just 23 seconds apart to put Oswego up 2-0, however Fredonia would cut the lead in half with a woman-up advantage from Erin Woods. Like their previous game, Oswego would find a spark on offense as McConnell and Lembo began to take over the game. The Lakers found themselves with an 8-1 lead after the first quarter. Oswego continued to apply offensive pressure in the second half with goals from freshman Alexis Hill, Katie Fiero, Wiley and two more from Lembo. 

At the final whistle, the Lakers finished the game with a 19-2 win to extend their win streak to four. Oswego outshot Fredonia 39-9, won the groundball battle 15-6, and converted 13-14 clears. Kamide would not see much action, but when she did she stayed strong in her crease only allowing two goals on four shot attempts. McConnell continued her offensive tear and finished the night with six goals, 13 in her last three games. Wiley would also rack up six points and Lembo would dominate the stat sheet with five goals, five assists and a total of eight shots.

After her 10-point performance, Lembo now finds herself fourth in the SUNYAC in goals and second on the team with 25. Lembo believes the support of her team has allowed her production to increase this season. 

“A lot of people have assisted me with my goals,” Lembo said. “I think our team chemistry is a lot better than last year, everybody has played a good role on offense.” 

Lembo is not the only Laker impacting the SUNYAC. Wiley is first in assists with 17 and second in points with 43 and is coming off both SUNYAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week. Goalie Kamide has also played a key role in the Lakers’ success thru the first half of the season as she leads the SUNYAC in goals against average with a 5.66 GA and save percentage of 54%. She was able to share her thoughts on her performance through nine games. 

“I am happy with my performance so far because it is an improvement from last year,” Kamide said. “I got my first-year nerves out so it is definitely nice to see improvement and hopefully it continues.” 

The 7-2 Lakers are just halfway through their 2023 campaign as they look to continue momentum against their next opponent, 4-2 SUNY Geneseo. The contest will be at 4 p.m., on April 4 at Geneseo.

Photo via: Oswego Athletics