The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team closed out their regular season by taking on the Plattsburgh State Cardinals and the Cortland Red Dragons. 

The Lakers traveled up north to face off against the Cardinals on Saturday, April 20. The Cardinals struck first by netting a goal just over a minute into the contest, but the Lakers answered back with a 4-0 run. Isabella Lembo started the run with her 51st goal of the season to tie the game up and minutes later Sela Wiley followed up with a goal of her own. As the quarter began to dwindle down the dynamic duo of Lembo and Wiley buried two more goals to put the Lakers ahead 4-1. 

The Cardinals started the second quarter much like the first with a quick goal, cutting the Lakers lead to 4-2. Madison Davis responded to bring the lead back up to three, but the Cardinals capitalized on a penalty to get within two again. After the Cardinals’ third goal, the Lakers’ offense and defense settled in and began to control all aspects of the game. The Lakers’ offense put on a clinic the remainder of the quarter by scoring on a woman-up advantage off the stick of Wiley and two goals down a player from junior Julia Quirk and Wiley. The Lakers entered the half with a 9-3 lead. 

The second half came and the Lakers continued applying pressure on the offensive side. Noelle Smith tacked on her first goal of the game in the third quarter followed by Alexis Hill, Wiley, and Sophie Ruschin. The Cardinals were held to just one shot attempt in the quarter which was saved by goalie Sarah Kamide. 

The Lakers’ 13-3 lead was extended in the final quarter with goals from Davis and Hill in the opening minutes of the fourth. In the middle of the quarter, the Cardinals suffered two penalties which the Lakers once again capitalized on. The Lakers put the icing on the cake as Sadie Zemanick buried a goal at the buzzer to cap off a dominant 18-3 win over the Cardinals. 

The Lakers continued their perfect record against the Cardinals and moved to 4-0 all-time against them.

Wiley led the team with six goals on nine shot attempts and dished out two assists. Wiley’s performance helped her earn the SUNYAC Offensive Athlete of the Week. 

After the big win against the Cardinals, the Lakers were back home to take on the Red Dragons in the regular season finale. The Red Dragons came out quickly to start the game as they lit the scoreboard first, scoring a goal just over a minute into play. Their offense did not slow down as they controlled the remainder of the quarter, burying seven more goals to take an 8-0 lead after the first 15 minutes. 

The Lakers finally got on the board with just under ten minutes remaining in the second quarter with a goal from Quirk. 40 seconds later the Lakers tacked on another goal from Wiley to cut the Red Dragons lead to 10-2. The Red Dragons added two more goals before the end of the quarter to take a 12-2 lead into halftime. 

The Lakers scored just twenty seconds into the third quarter off the stick of Quirk, her second of the game. Despite the goal the Lakers’ comeback chances were diminishing as the Red Dragons added on three more goals in the quarter to take a 15-3 lead. The pace of play slowed down in the final quarter as well as the goals. Hill scored the fourth goal of the game for the Lakers, but it was not enough as the Red Dragons took the contest by a score of 17-4. 

The Lakers wrap up their regular season with a 10-6 record, 6-3 in conference play. They will now turn their attention to the SUNYAC playoffs as they will be hosting a first-round game at 1 p.m., April 27 at Laker Turf Stadium.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics