By Alex Abramovitch

The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team dropped its most recent matchup against SUNY Brockport on April 27 by a score of 16-5. The loss handed the Lakers their fourth in the SUNYAC and their 10th overall for the season. They now sit 4-4 in conference play with a overall record of 5-10 on the year, after a 4-5 record in 2021.

It was a low scoring first quarter as SUNY Brockport opened up the scoring with 13:56 left on the clock. Four minutes and 40 seconds later, the Golden Eagles tallied another goal to make the game 2-0. Not a terrible start for the Lakers, a two-goal deficit is not the worst thing in the work with.

The second quarter was one that the Lakers want to regret, disastrous would be an understatement. SUNY Brockport scored two early goals to extend their lead to four, but Oswego State put one on the board to cut the lead back to three. It was all downhill for the rest of the quarter, the Golden Eagles went on to score six unanswered to make it a 10-1 game, not great. The statistics at halftime were heavy in SUNY Brockport’s favor, dominating the Lakers in almost every category.

The second half was a little bit nicer to the Lakers, they kept it closer with the Golden Eagles only being outscored 6-4. If it was not for that unfortunate second quarter the Lakers might have been able to keep the game close. Games like this happen, most teams have at least one blowout loss every year and typically rebound in their next matchup, which the Lakers will try and do on April 30.

Before their game on Wednesday, Oswego State had a dominant performance against SUNY Potsdam on April 23 when they picked up a 19-10 win on the road. The Lakers were led by a plethora of goals from Sela Wiley, eight of them to be exact. They were also led by strong games from Logan Castiglione who had six assists and Madison Davis who scored twice and picked up four assists as well.

Their game against SUNY Potsdam is how the Lakers want to play every game, they dominated in almost every facet of the game. The Lakers win against SUNY Potsdam was definitely a huge confidence booster, especially because of how much they won by. Confidence is what fuels most teams to pick up wins like that, and that is what Castiglione believes her team was confident as ever heading into that game.

“I would say we went into the game pretty confident just from who Potsdam has gone up against already, and who we have went against,” Castiglione said. “We were just prepared for their zone in practice and we did our stuff that we have to do against it.”

Goaltending is arguably the most important position in all of sports. When a goalie is on their game, they could carry their team to victory even when the players in front of them are not playing their best. Being a goalie is a tough task for someone, it is a lot of pressure because not only can you carry a team on your back to victory, you can also have a bad game and let your team down big time. Goalies certainly face a ton of pressure, especially if you are a freshman in that position, and that is what the Lakers have this year in goalie Sarah Kamide. Kamide has been very solid in net this year for Oswego State, she was given such a big responsibility and has made every start for the team this season and is currently third in the SUNYAC in saves this season.

“I think she’s been doing great this season, especially since she is coming in as a freshman and being our only goalie,” Castiglione said. “She has a lot of confidence and she takes her job and her role on the team very seriously so I think that is a big part of it.”

The Lakers have a big matchup heading into this weekend against SUNY Plattsburgh, a rivalry game as well, so nerves will definitely be dialed up to the max. Obviously with such a big game like that coming up, preparation will be key in deciding who will come out on top. Castiglione believes her team is feeling pretty good heading into the weekend.

“For Plattsburgh I would say we are pretty confident in playing against them,” Castiglione said. “I would say that especially since they are one point behind us in the standings.”

The offensive unit for Oswego State has been efficient this season, they have had many outbreaks of goals in some of their wins this year, including a 23 goal outing and their 19 goal game against SUNY Potsdam. The connection between offensive players is massive, because when you have great chemistry you can know what your teammates are doing before they even make a play. Isabella Lembo emphasizes the fact that their off the field relationships have been a big part in their goal-scoring.

“I think we have a really good connection down low and this year I’ve been moving up top more,” Lembo said. “I know where Logans’ feeds are going to be, so I think we both have good sticks skill along with the rest of the team, and I think everybody works well together.”

Photo by William Rogers