The Oswego State women’s soccer team wrapped up their 2023 regular season in their annual Senior Day game against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons in a game where the Lakers recognized five seniors: these being Nicole Orlando, Shayna Connally, Gillian Groth, Luigina Serrao and Haley Muehl.  Despite this, the Lakers still fell to the Red Dragons by a score of 3-0. However, even with this defeat, the Lakers secured a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs.

The Red Dragons controlled the ball for the first 15 minutes of the game. They put up three shots, saved by goalkeeper Perri Anderson, until the Red Dragons put up the first score of the game at the 13:44 mark. The Lakers put up one shot until they found themselves in a deeper hole, as the Red Dragons scored again almost two minutes later, at the 15:37 mark to bring the score to 2-0. The Lakers controlled the pace of the rest of the first half, putting up four shots, but unfortunately none of these found the net. The Red Dragons were not able to put up a single shot after their second goal, but the half still ended in a 2-0 lead for them.

The Lakers’ offense stalled in the second half, as Katie Delgrosso was the only one to put up a shot in the period. As for the Red Dragons, they put up five shots before scoring the final goal of the game at the 82:03 mark. They controlled the pace for the last eight minutes of the game, and Senior Day ended in a 3-0 loss for the Lakers to the Red Dragons.

The Lakers were doubled in shots by the Red Dragons. The Lakers left the day with six, three of these were on goal, while the Red Dragons had 12 with eight on goal. Brianna Winkler and Serrao led the team with two shots apiece; both of Serrao’s shots were on goal. Nicolette Joannou put up the other shot on goal in the contest. Perri Anderson left the day with four saves on three goals allowed, and Muehl also had one save in the game.

This loss leaves the Lakers finishing their regular season at a record of 6-3-6, with a conference record of 3-2-4, putting them in fifth place in the SUNYAC conference. This puts them in a matchup against the SUNY New Paltz Hawks, the no.4 seed team in the conference.

The Hawks have the best offense in the SUNYAC, leading in goals with 45 total, 26 of which are against conference rivals. The Hawks average 2.65 goals per game, and 16.2 shots per game. They are led by star forwards Rachel Eisert and Gaby Treble, who lead the SUNYAC conference with 12 goals on their seasons. However, this offense has proven to be stopped by the Lakers, as their last matchup ended in a scoreless tie. Unfortunately, this was at home for the Lakers, and they will need to travel to New Paltz in the contest; the Hawks have not lost a home game all season. On top of all this, the Lakers have not defeated the Hawks since 2017, but since then, their matchups have all either been ties or overtime losses. 

In what is sure to be a close matchup in the SUNYAC playoffs, the Lakers will travel to face the Hawks on Oct. 28, at 1 p.m.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics