The Oswego State men’s soccer team suffered their fourth loss of the year last weekend, as they were bested by the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons, 3-0, on Sep. 27 at Laker Turf Stadium.

A fire was quickly lit under the tails of the visiting squad, as Joe Holder, who has been a powerful striker all season, buried one off of a nifty feed from Nico Loaiza, to put the Red Dragons up 1-0 just three minutes into the contest. A standstill was had from there, as Lakers goalkeeper Kyle Rose was able to neutralize the opposing attack. The Red Dragons also put on an elite defensive showing, as they constantly interfered with the Lakers’ attempts at trying to generate momentum.

The Laker defense went through a lapse in the final stages of the first half, though, as senior forward Milton Mancias Magana evaded the backend help and connected on an unassisted goal to give the Red Dragons a two-goal lead heading into the break.

While the Red Dragons came into the second half roaring, attempting to keep on pace with the authoritative tempo they established in the first 45, Kyle Rose fended shots off left and right. The core defensive unit, headed by Edis Omerovic and Kieran Husselbeck, also played a significant role in stagnating the blitz. However, after a slew of shots, substitutions and fouls, the Red Dragons converted. Magana picked up his second goal of the game, assisted by Zach Tanner in the 85th minute and finalized a commanding shutout win for the Red Dragons.

The Lakers recovered four days later and secured a 1-0 win over an in-conference foe, the SUNY Canton Kangaroos, on Oct. 1.

The evenly-matched squads faced off in Canton and no clear momentum was had either way for much of the outing. The Lakers took a multitude of shots in the first half, courtesy of Ethan Caruana, Benjamin Brooks and Ian Husselbeck, but Kangaroo keeper Jon Bovair stood tall in net to push back each attempt that came his way.

Defense continued to be the name of the game in the second and final half, as each offense was not allowed an edge. Tajay Ellis was a critical factor for the Lakers, though, as he applied an aggressive style of play in his first game back since he suffered a lower-body injury early into the season. For the Kangaroos, the often undisciplined play of the squad led to multiple fouls and eventually a yellow card on Demetrius Blake Jr. in the 54th minute. The Lakers gained an advantage off of this and which showed in the late stages, when Ellis, putting his immense impact on display, buried one, unassisted, in the 79th minute to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. This margin held for the remaining 11 minutes and allowed the Lakers to take their second win of the season – and their first in SUNYAC play.

The Lakers return home to take on SUNY Morrisville for senior day on Oct. 4.