Following two straight losses in the SUNYAC, the Oswego State women’s lacrosse team will look to work on itself and turn it around this weekend against SUNY Potsdam.

The Lakers currently sit at 1-2 in SUNYAC play, after losses to both The College at Brockport and SUNY Cortland. After starting SUNYAC play with a 23-3 win over SUNY Fredonia, the Lakers dropped games to The College at Brockport, by a score of 16-9, and to SUNY Cortland, by a score of 18-10. 

While the losses may not help the Lakers in the standings, the team wants to build off of what it has already done this season. Junior goalie Elianna Sanchez talked about some things that the Lakers can learn from the losses.

“I think we definitely have to pick up on certain things,” Sanchez said. “But a loss is an opportunity for us to keep growing.”

Head coach Britt Howard also talked about how there can still be positives taken away from the previous two games.

“We learned from our mistakes against Brockport and tried to transfer it to our game against Cortland to be successful,” Howard said. “Obviously, we didn’t come out on the top, but I think that towards the end of the season, playoffs, I think [the experience] will be good for us.”

In order for the losses to become a somewhat positive experience, the Lakers will have to improve upon their weaknesses. According to the team, the best way to do that is by focusing on the players.

“That’s kind of been our biggest focus, just focusing on ourselves and not really worrying about the other teams,” Howard said.

Senior attack Teresa Shattuck also spoke on how important this focus is for the team.

“We need to stay together, play our game,” Shattuck said. “We’ve been going to other games trying to worry about [the opposing team], but we just need to focus on what we do well and just do that.”

Along with building off their strengths, the Lakers have also looked to correct some of their weaknesses. In particular, their clearing attempts which they convert at a rate of 44 out of 62 in SUNYAC play, which is the second worst in the SUNYAC, only ahead of SUNY Potsdam.

“Well, after our Cortland game, we were really out here working on our clears,” Shattuck said. “We were out here for an hour just focusing on that.”

Howard also noted that the team needs to improve on clearing the ball.

“We obviously have to work on our clear,” Howard said. “That was one of our weaker points in the last few games, so really taking that and working that into Potsdam and obviously Geneseo.”

Keeping the morale up on the team is also something that was mentioned.

Sanchez talked about staying positive heading into the upcoming games.

With these adjustments, the Lakers are still confident they can change their fates in the conference with six out of their last seven games coming against SUNYAC opponents.

The team will look to begin this turnaround on Saturday, when it hosts SUNYAC opponent SUNY Potsdam. The matchup against the Bears will be the first of two SUNYAC games this week, the second coming on the road in SUNY Geneseo on Wednesday. The team is very aware that it needs to right the ship with wins this week.

“Definitely very important,” Shattuck said when asked how important getting a win on Saturday is. “We need a win coming up, and I think we definitely want it and are going to get it.”

That matchup with SUNY Potsdam will be the next time the Lakers take the field, which will be at 1 p.m. this Saturday on the Laker Turf.

Photo by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian