Junior forward Hassan Musa has made an immediate impact leading Oswego State men’s soccer in goals, assists, and points in their 4-0-1 record.

Musa transferred from Onondaga Community College this season, and is already feeling at home on this Laker team. The transition process from community college to Oswego State has been a smooth process for Musa.

“It’s been a great process. I have a lot of friends here that came to this school and I had a lot of connections that persuaded me to come to this school,” Musa said.

Musa is one of seven new players that head coach Dan Kane and assistant coach Scott Brown have recruited to Oswego State. Brown was an essential part of recruiting Musa to Oswego State in the spring. While recruiting in Fulton, Brown was talking to a couple of his players, and they told him about Musa.

“A couple of our guys were [in Fulton] and I just went over to say hi to our guys and Musa was there. I didn’t even know, just didn’t really pay attention to him,” assistant coach Scott Brown said. “Afterwards, I asked our players who he was and they were telling me about him and said you got to get him, you got to get him.”

After talking with the head coach of OCC where Musa played, Brown realized he had a big connection with Musa’s guardian and role model, Heather Niver.

“I started talking to Corey, the head coach at OCC, and he was telling me everything about him and then I realized that I had this really big connection with his guardian, a role model Heather Niver,” Brown said. “I go way back with her since I was four or five years old, so it was just getting in her ear, and her getting in Musa’s ear, getting him up to visit and the relationship bloomed from there.”

Many factors lead to Musa deciding to come to Oswego State, including how close it was to home for the Syracuse native.

“It’s the perfect school for me [Oswego State], because it’s not too far from here, like 40 minutes away,” Musa said. “I can go home anytime I want on the weekends, so everything is going great right now.”

Head coach Dan Kane is pleased with the progress Musa has made so far this season and likes the direction the team is going in.

“[Musa]’s been fantastic from the very first moment he stepped on the campus,” said Kane. “You see some of his set piece goals and you’re like, ‘wow that’s really good,’, but he does a lot of the small things to make his teammates better too. That’s the stuff I didn’t know about, but I got a chance to see it early and often throughout the preseason and he’s just been a joy to have.”

Musa has started the season off strong scoring six goals and six assists, and 18 points so far during the first five games of the season. Oswego State is 4-0-1 matching its win total from last season already.

Although the success is new to Oswego State soccer, which has not had a winning season since 2006, Musa expected this team to do as well as they have this season.

“I did expect that (success) because from the beginning the team looked good. We have a new coach, new players and I have people I know here,” Musa said. “We played each other in the spring so most of the guys knew me already.”

This made it easier for Musa to get acclimated to a new environment and succeed quickly since he was familiar with some of the guys on the team coming into the season.

“I like scoring goals and helping my team score goals,” said Musa. “That’s all I want to keep doing this season.”

Photo: Jake Piacenti | The Oswegonian