The Oswego State women’s lacrosse team continued conference play as they faced off against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons on March 30. 

The Lakers honored their seniors as they welcomed the Red Dragons to the shores of Lake Ontario for a conference showdown. The Red Dragons gained possession early in the game and went right to work scoring a goal in just over a minute of play. Moments later, the Lakers answered back with two goals in ten seconds. The first came from Sophie Ruschin to tie the game and then Sela Wiley ran through the heart of the Red Dragons’ defense to bury the go-ahead goal. Both offenses continued to produce as the quarter ended with the game notched up 3-3. 

The beginning of the second quarter saw more back-and-forth play as both teams scored twice in the first five minutes to put the game at 5-5. However, the Lakers’ offense found a spark in the middle of the quarter starting with Noelle Smith burying a free-position goal for the Lakers, opening the floodgates. Within five minutes, Ruschin, Isabella Lembo and Smith all scored for the Lakers to give them four unanswered goals and a 9-5 lead. Lakers’ goalie Sarah Kamide shut down three shot attempts from the Red Dragons in the dying minutes of the half to keep the Lakers ahead. 

The Red Dragons scored early to begin the second half, but the Lakers answered back with another barrage of goals as they scored six straight. During the scoring run, the Lakers had two woman-up advantage goals, one from Katie Fierro and the other from Lembo. Wiley got back into the scoring mix netting another three goals to close out the third quarter and pushing her total to six goals on the day. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Lakers kept their foot on the gas and responded any time the Red Dragons scored. Lembo netted two more goals and Madison Davis put the icing on the cake with two of her own in the last minutes of play. 

After being tied through the first 15 minutes of play, the Lakers closed out the game on a 16-5 run to seal a 19-8 victory and earn their third straight win over the Red Dragons. The Lakers now move to 16-19 all-time against the SUNYAC opponent. 

The Lakers’ offense put on a clinic with six players having multiple goals. Wiley led the game in scoring with six, followed by Lembo with four and Davis with three. Kamide was a wall in net, giving up eight goals and saving 12 shots, six of them coming in the second quarter. The Lakers took advantage of their free positions going two for four and their woman-up advantage going three for four. Both teams were successful in all of their clear attempts as the Lakers went three for three and the Red Dragons went six for six. The Lakers dominated the draw controls, winning 20 of the 30 attempts. 

The Lakers continue to score at a high clip this season with 14.1 goals per game on 31.5 shots per game. They now have five players with double-digit goals on the year, led by Lembo with 31, followed by Wiley (27), Quirk (25), Davis (16) and Ruschin (10). Kamide has been strong in net giving up 10.8 goals per game with a 44.7 save percentage.

The Lakers will look to carry their success into their next matchup as they travel to Fredonia to take on the Blue Devils at 4 p.m. on April 10. The Lakers have won the previous seven contests against the Blue Devils and they will look to do it again to pick up another conference victory.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics