Following a 1-4 loss in their game against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Jan. 26 the Oswego State women’s hockey team crushed their opponents in a rematch at the Deborah F. Stanley Arena on Jan. 27. 

From the beginning of the first period, the Lakers put on a strong defense against several quick shots from the Red Dragons, all blocked by Oswego State goaltender Lexi Levy. Struggles for the puck consumed most of the period as players sped to both ends of the ice until Lauren Schell nabbed the puck from the Red Dragons. Schell brought the puck down to the Red Dragons’ goal, placing Oswego’s offense at an advantage as Mack Hull assisted. Schell shot, but it was ultimately blocked. Following more back-and-forth play, the Lakers fought for the offensive, resulting in a goal by Rylee Preston, assisted by Erika Parenti and Lauren Schell with 6:22 left. 

Oswego won the second-period faceoff at center ice and remained in control of the puck for the period and continued control of the power play after the Red Dragons were assessed for roughing against Helen Vandamme. There was swift coordination between Oswego players Ashlyn McGrath, Rheya Zemlak and Kensie Malone as sharp passes advanced them to the goal and made back-to-back shots. Once the Red Dragons returned to full strength, they struggled to shoot anything past Levy. Conflict erupted as leftover frustrations from yesterday’s game manifested themselves while players fought for the puck. A penalty for the Red Dragons maintained Oswego’s advantage, and Parenti scored on the power play for the Lakers, assisted by Hull and Bednarik. The faceoff following Parenti’s goal was won by the Red Dragons. Levy proceeded to save two shots taken by the Red Dragons as players began to crowd the goal. Oswego players Hull and Bednarik let tempers fly, resulting in the penalization of Hull and the Red Dragons’ Kayla Persinger for roughing towards the end of the period. 

The third period started off strong for the Lakers as Hull returned from her penalty and assisted in Oswego’s control of the puck. Rheya Zemlak, Ashlyn McGrath and Megan Buxton maintained the Lakers’ offensive but were outskated as the Dragons regained the puck about five minutes in. Hull received a tripping penalty which was followed by an interference call on Lauren Schell. Halfway through the period, a timeout was called by the Red Dragons. Upon return, the Red Dragons gained the puck after the face-off leading to a goal by Cortland. The Lakers regained control after Persinger’s goal and put their focus into drive; the team pushed the offense, backing their opponents to the goal. Rachel Corbett, scored the team’s final goal with an assist from Kensie Malone, with hardly a minute left on the clock. Knowing they could not win, the  Red Dragons ran the clock down in the final faceoff after Corbett’s goal, ending the game in a 3-1 victory for Oswego. 

The women cheered their way into the locker room, Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” blaring from speakers as they sang along. Once settled down, Parenti shared her thoughts on how the game unfolded.

“Last night had been a tie and then we lost with three minutes left, and that four-one loss made us, like, really angry…we really wanted to win today and I think we got the job done, and did a really good job at working together. Last night our shifts were a little long so we worked to make them shorter, we had more energy and made sure our legs weren’t so tired playing back-to-back games,” Parenti said. 

Parenti recognized the team’s next two games will be a similar situation with back-to-back games against Morrisville and looked to the matches optimistically. 

“I think we definitely have a chance at winning, we saw our chances and capitalized on that, and focused on actually getting it in the net; that’s what we’ve been working on in practice. We had a lot of chances but weren’t actually producing it, so I think we did everything that we needed to do today, and it worked.” Parenti said before returning to her teammates to continue the celebration.

The Lakers will play their next home game on Pride Night at the Deb on Feb. 3 against SUNY Morrisville.

Photo by: Vanessa Choquette