After traveling to Plattsburgh State and SUNY Fredonia, facing back to back tied games, the Oswego men’s soccer team was ready to get back to Laker Turf Stadium. 

On Oct. 7, Oswego fought a tough SUNYAC match-up against the no. 4 nationally-ranked SUNY Oneonta at home. Oneonta came away with a 4-1 victory.

Oneonta started off by showing a strong offense, scoring two goals in the first half, taking an early lead against the Lakers.

Sophomore goalkeeper Andre Bourjolly had eight saves throughout the entire game, with the Lakers’ having ten overall saves in comparison to Oneonta’s three saves.

With 16 minutes remaining, Junior midfielder Derek Rivera scored the first goal for the Lakers, making the score 4-1. That would be the only goal scored by the Lakers that game.

Following the Oct. 7 matchup, Oswego made their way to Geneseo to take on the SUNY Geneseo Knights. 

Both the Lakers and the Knights played a strong defense throughout the entire game, especially during the first half. Both teams had two shots on target throughout the first half. 

Liam Mulderig of the Knights scored the first goal of the game through a penalty kick within 17 minutes of the second half. 

Merely ten minutes later, Lakers forward Christ Smith tied the game up 1-1 with a shot right outside the goalie box. 

The Knights and Lakers continued a defensive stalemate until the final five minutes of the game when Mulderig managed to retrieve the ball from the Lakers’ defender. He dribbled down the field, and kicked the ball past Bourjolly, putting the Knights in the lead with a 2-1 score. 

The Lakers did not lose hope and fought back, scoring on a corner kick with four minutes remaining to tie the score.

The Lakers’ kept up their determination as they hopped back on the road to face the SUNY New Paltz Hawks on Oct. 14. 

Even though the Hawks and the Lakers played a 0-0 tie game, it was still an intense matchup. The Lakers sported strong defense against the Hawks quick footwork and speed, with the help of the rainy and slippery conditions. 

Throughout the first half, the Hawks and the Lakers had quite the number of fouls called, the Lakers with four fouls in the first half and the Hawks with five. 

Due to the slippery conditions, there were a combined 13 shots attempted in the first half from both teams, each team also only having one save in the first half. 

The second half saw Bourjolly making four saves, as the Hawks attempted another 12 shots, with only four on goal. 

On Oct. 18, the Lakers were finally spared of the rainy conditions as they faced the Buffalo State Bengals at Laker Turf Stadium in their second to last game of the regular season. 

Only two minutes into the game, the Lakers found themselves to be the first ones on the scoreboard through a corner kick made by senior Liam Rothar. 

The Lakers kept up their defense throughout the first half, but the Bengals were able to break through it quickly, scoring three goals, resulting in a 3-1 lead against the Lakers to end the first half. 

Both the Bengals and the Lakers’ played it back for a majority of the second half, putting up their best defenses. 

As time was running out for this matchup, the Bengals scored the first goal of the second half, with Matthew Sprague of the Lakers’ also scoring very shortly after. The Bengals finished the game in the lead with a final score of 4-2. 

This leaves the Lakers in the no. 8 seed in SUNYAC, with an overall record of 2-5-7 and 1-3-4 in conference. 

The Lakers will have their last game of the regular season on Oct. 21 against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons at 1 p.m. in Cortland.

Photo via: Oswego Athletics