The Oswego State men’s soccer team struggled to get any consistent play going this afternoon against a lot of pressure from the Hamilton College defense this afternoon as the Continentals rolled to a 3-0 victory at Laker Field.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the Lakers tried to improve their play and were able to for some stretches of time, but Hamilton had control throughout the entirety of the match.
The Continentals added an insurance goal in the 68th minute off a penalty kick by Dan Kraynak. The visitors earned the chance after a Laker foul in the penalty area and Kraynak slotted home the shot to bring the game to its final score.
Oswego State was only able to muster just two shots in the second half, neither of them on target. Continental goalkeeper Harris Pollack was hardly bothered on the day, only having to make one save. His counterpart Todd Lawson faced a much tougher day.
The Continentals took 14 shots on the day, compared to the Lakers’ four, and 11 of them were on target. Lawson made eight saves on the day of his own.
Lawson did not feel it was the best game for his team, but feels they can recover with some more work and time
“The loss today stinks, it wasn’t the result we wanted. But we just have to work further into the season and we need to bounce back this weekend against Nazareth,” Lawson said.
Oswego State got off to a poor start in the first half and the defensive play by Hamilton College led to difficulty creating offense.
There was one instance where sophomore Mitch Brickman made a solid solo effort down the right side and attempted to weave his way by defenders. But, he could only get off a weak shot that rolled to Pollack. The Lakers only got one other shot off in the half from freshman Conor Lunduski, which missed the mark
The Lakers gave up two goals in the first half. Both of them off bad defending and broken plays. On the first, Lawson blocked a shot by Alec Talsania, which fell to Griffin Abbott for the finish and gave the Continentals an early lead.
The second goal also came because of a defensive lapse as Oswego State was unable to clear the ball on a header. Talsania put the ball in the net to increase the Lakers’ deficit. The Lakers tried to bring themselves back into the game, but they just could not make it happen as they succumbed to the Continental defense.
Oswego State head coach Bob Friske is aware that his team has reached a point early on in its season where a proper response to a game like this is crucial..
“If we can’t build from games like this, we’re going to struggle throughout the season,” Friske said. “We’ll find out against Nazareth as to how we respond from getting knocked down”
The Lakers return to action this weekend with a road match at Nazareth College on Saturday at 4 p.m. before returning home to play Morrisville State on Sept. 10 at Laker Field at 4 p.m. as well.
