Due to snowstorms in March in Oswego, the men’s lacrosse team along with several other spring sports have been forced to postpone games and practices this year. This completely messed up their schedules for unforeseen circumstances.

The snow was so bad that the lacrosse team had to postpone two games during the season and practice in low visibility conditions.

Players had to adjust to game and practice cancellations to still succeed in their craft. 

“We had multiple practices changed to indoors which are shorter practices, and one canceled within 45 minutes of our practice start time,” said Ryan Rogers, a sophomore midfielder on the team. 

The team was forced to practice in Romney Field House due to snow build-up on Laker turf. 

“Practicing in Romney is much harder than being able to play outside. There is not as much room or visibility as out on the turf, so we must be able to adjust,” said Rogers. Cancellations have made it hard for the team to adjust and prepare for their games against both Utica University and SUNY Brockport.

The team’s game against Utica was moved from March 20 to 21 due to snow build-up on the turf. During January and February, the Oswego area saw little to no snow but saw consistent snow accumulation during the week of March 18.

“There has been so much snow during practice that we had to change the color of the lacrosse balls we were using because no one was able to see anything.” said starting goaltender for the men’s acrosse team, Seamus Hand.

“It has been hard for all of us to try and stay positive due to the weather, but I believe we will all persevere,” Hand said.

Along with the Utica game being rescheduled, the Lakers’ game against SUNYAC rival Brockport has also been rescheduled from March 23 due to a winter storm advisory in effect.

Snow removal itself can take hours at a time if the accumulation is high. Due to the rapid accumulation, crews are not able to keep up with the snowfall. This makes playing lacrosse on the turf nearly impossible, due to buildups of up to seven inches at a time in the past week. 

The bad weather came at a time of particular importance for the Lakers, as they began to play opponents in the SUNYAC competition. These games count towards their standing in the division and could make or break their chances of winning their first SUNYAC title ever.

Head Coach Andrew Daly in his second year with the Lakers has been given the

challenging task of dealing with the Oswego weather and planning accordingly when asked about the cancellations affecting the team as a whole. 

“It throws off everyone’s routine, not only with lacrosse but in classes as well. These guys are used to their normal practice times, and when these cancellations happen it throws everyone off,” Daly said. 

Oswego holds a reputation for being very snowy and windy due to the weather brought out from Lake Ontario. 

“We have had pretty good luck with the weather this year, but it is surprising to see a week that bad this late in the winter,” Daly said.

Deciding to postpone a game is done under many extenuating circumstances and must be done in collaboration with the opposing college. Bussing, turf availability, future games and future weather conditions must be considered when canceling a game due to poor weather.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics