In 2018, the Oswego State men’s soccer team tallied ten points in SUNYAC play and lost a tiebreaker to Plattsburgh State for the sixth and final playoff spot. A big reason for this was the team’s four-game losing streak to begin conference play.
This season has been different. The Lakers are 2-0-1 thus far in SUNYAC play, including a win over last season’s league champion The College at Brockport. The Lakers’ seven points are good for a third-place tie in the conference and are just three points shy of the number they put up last season with six games to go.
“We’re really excited about the way we’ve opened up with our conference play and being undefeated at home,” head coach Dan Kane said. “But we know that seven points [don’t] guarantee anything in this conference. Our guys have a great mindset of being humble and hungry. We know that there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Saturday, Oct. 5, the Lakers tied No. 13/24 SUNY Cortland. This broke a 12-game losing streak against the Red Dragons. But these tough games with nationally-ranked teams are not new for Oswego State.
“In certain games all season we’ve started to gain confidence,” Kane said. “It started with playing really well against Ithaca, a nationally-ranked team, at their place. Getting a win against Brockport who won the conference last year, so we knew we could play and beat nationally- ranked teams and we’re excited to have lots of opportunities to do it.”
The Lakers will face yet another big opponent this Friday, Oct. 11 against No. 5/11 SUNY Oneonta. The Red Dragons are off to a 3-0-0 SUNYAC start, good for first place, and have not allowed a conference goal. They are led by senior forward Witman Hernandez who has 11 goals in as many games this season. The Lakers look to junior goaltender Brian Terra to stay hot inbetween the pipes. Terra has a career-high five shutouts this season, including two in SUNYAC play. But he knows nothing comes easy in this conference.
“Every game in the SUNYAC is going to be a fight,” Terra said. “We go in [with] the mindset we can win, but we have to stay focused or else the result won’t go our way.”
After Friday’s game, the Lakers take on SUNY New Paltz the following day. This marks the final regular-season home game for the team.
“It is a little weird,” defenseman Ryan Young said. “It’s also going to be tough to finish with four away games that are going to impact our playoff seeding.”
One of those final four road games comes at Plattsburgh State, the team that beat the Lakers for the tiebreaker to get into the SUNYACs a season ago. The Cardinals are tied with SUNY Oneonta with nine points for the SUNYAC lead. But before the Lakers hit the road, they want to finish business on their own turf. The team is 4-0-1 at Laker Turf Stadium this season.
“We’re riding the wave,” Kane said. “The home supporters have been fantastic and it’s great to be getting lots of positive publicity, so we’re enjoying every moment of it.”
The Lakers have also been riding the freshman wave. Through three SUNYAC games, three of their four goals were scored by a freshman. The first two goals came off the bench from Kyle Scalzo in a 2-0 victory against SUNY Geneseo. Scalzo has played an important role off the bench for Oswego State. The third was a goal by Steven Rojas in the team’s 1-1 tie against SUNY Cortland. Rojas has started 10 of the team’s 11 games this season. He is second on the team with eight points this year, trailing only senior forward Caleb Asamoah with 15.
“We had high expectations for both of them but they’ve exceeded those expectations,” Kane said. “We have a lot of freshmen that have played huge and crucial minutes. In the mentality of it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, or what you’ve done before, or even what you did last week. You have to come back out and step up every game.”
The veteran Lakers have loved the incoming wave of freshman as well. They have welcomed the new group of talent with open arms. Of the team’s nine goal-scorers this season, three are freshmen. Another two are sophomores.
“There are a lot of young guys this year, so everybody’s excited and there’s a buzz about it because we started off so great,” Young said. “It’s like a big family environment here.”
The Lakers have not had a winning SUNYAC record since 2008. Their 2-0-1 start to conference play in 2019 looks to change that.
“It’s great just knowing we’ve been coming out and getting the results we want,” Terra said. “It’s just a great feeling and we know that’s the feeling we want after each and every game.”
As each game goes on, the confidence within the locker room continues to grow. But as Kane said, the group has stayed humble through their hot start.
“We’ve just got to keep the same energy we have every game,” Young said. “Every pregame we’ve been super amped up in the locker room and we have to bring that to the field.”
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
