Following their past three losses in three games, the Lakers Field Hockey team looked to terminate that losing streak. Such a phrase seemed to fit the day, as they defeated the Keuka University Wolves by a margin of six goals. The Lakers had not held a lead in a game since Sept. 7, but it was not long before the goals started piling on. 

The Lakers were the ones to start the game with the ball, but initially it seemed as if the Wolves would be the first ones to mark the board. The Wolves were given a penalty corner less than two minutes in, but made no use of it. The Lakers were quick to get it out of their end and spent most of the day in Keuka’s half of the field. While occasionally the Wolves would give us pause for thought, they were unable to get deep into the Oswego end with their offense. Less than eight minutes into the game, the Lakers took their first lead in over a week and a half, as Bryleigh Beauchat let one fly into the back of the net for her third goal of the year. Not long after, Kate McNally would follow it up with a goal of her own, her first of the year, putting the Lakers up two goals to none to end the quarter.

The second quarter was a lot less eventful than the first. The Lakers were given a few penalty corner opportunities, but were not able to capitalize on them. Halfway through the quarter however, the Wolves had their best scoring opportunity to that point, as they had a 2-on-1 going into the Lakers’ end. However, it was the stick of goalie Sam Krautheim that broke up the play and stuffed the rush into their end. Extra opportunities from Keuka would all be taken care of and even though the Lakers weren’t able to add to the score themselves, they still went into halftime with a lead of 2-0. 

After the half, it was not long for the scoring floodgates to open. Less than two minutes in, Beauchat would get her second goal of the game due to chaos created in front of the Wolves’ net. With the two goals she doubled her total this season in just one game, bringing her to four this year. For the next ten minutes it would be an onslaught of offense from Oswego, with them controlling possession in the Wolves’ end. Eventually this led to goal number four, an unassisted goal from Meg Keubler, her first of the year as well. This however was not going to nearly be the end of scoring for the Lakers. 

Four goals was the cumulative total going into quarter number four, but it would be double that coming out of it. Five minutes in, Madi Stuckart found the back of the net off of a chaotic play that landed the ball on her stick with a wide open net. This would be her second of the season, this one assisted by Beauchat, bringing her points total on the day to five points, over doubling her season points to tal. Less than three minutes later, the Wolves finally broke the goose egg on their side of the scoreboard, putting the only goal on the board for the team. It did not matter. Rhyanne Johnson would score her first following a penalty corner from the Lakers, bringing the lead back up to five goals. 

Soon after, Makayla Caldwell would put the final nail in the coffin, scoring the Lakers’ seventh goal of the game and her second of the season, with three minutes to go. The Lakers came into this game facing a three game losing streak, but left scoring more goals than they had the entire season up to that point. They opened their home stand as well as they could’ve hoped and will go into their game against the Rochester University Yellowjackets on Sept. 21 with their heads held high.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics