Oswego State bounced back in the win column after a weekend shutout loss to St. Lawrence University, defeating St. John Fisher University, 2-1, in a game that went the distance on Sept. 23.

The Lakers entered Tuesday’s contest looking to respond after being shut out by St. Lawrence on Saturday despite generating a solid number of scoring chances. The overall offense continued to struggle against St. John Fisher, but Oswego used its defense and timely goaltending to find another way to win.

The Lakers were outshot 19-2 by the Cardinals, but their neutral-zone pressure and perimeter defense kept St. John Fisher from turning its shot advantage into a crooked number on the scoreboard. After battling through four quarters and two overtimes, the Lakers headed to a shootout and then a sudden-death shootout, where junior Alexa Snyder sealed the victory with an epic trick-shot goal.

The win gave Oswego its fourth victory in seven games to start the campaign, its best start since 2022, when the Lakers opened the year 5-2.

The contest started as a back-and-forth affair, with both teams struggling to break out of their own defensive zones, but the Cardinals held a 4-1 shots advantage heading into halftime.

Three minutes into the second half, the Lakers finally broke the ice. Oswego was awarded a penalty corner but could not get a shot on net. They kept possession in the offensive zone, working the perimeter before getting a shot that pinballed off a couple of Cardinals and landed on the stick of Gabby Curtis, who was hiding out in the slot. Curtis hammered it home for her second goal of the season while simultaneously putting the Lakers up 1-0.

The Cardinals responded in kind just six minutes later as Mary Kate McPhee broke free, dangling through the heart of the Oswego defense, before ripping one past Oswego’s junior goaltender Sam Krautheim, knotting the game up at one a piece

It was the only goal Krautheim gave up in the game. The New Jersey native finished the game with 10 saves on 11 shots on goal, lowering her goals against average to 1.77 on the season.

Throughout the rest of regulation time, St. John Fisher dictated the pace of play, forcing Oswego to take multiple fouls that resulted in penalty corners, but the Laker’s defense stood strong, keeping most opportunities to the outside, forcing overtime.

The Cardinals kept their dominance of the offensive zone going into the first overtime period, putting up three shots, two on goal, with multiple this time coming from that slot area, including a breakaway attempt, but Oswego once again held steady, sending it to another extra frame.

In the second overtime, it was Krautheim who stole the show once again with a huge game-saving stop. She broke up a Cardinal midfielder’s breakaway by running nearly 20 yards out of her net and making a flying poke check, keeping the game alive and sending it to a shootout.

After the first five shootout attempts from each team, the squads were still gridlocked at one, forcing a sudden-death shootout round. Junior Julia Unger buried the first goal in the first attempt for the Lakers, but once again, McPhee kept the game going for Fisher.

Snyder got the call to shoot in the second round of sudden death, and she reached into her bag of tricks. Charging toward the net, Snyder kept the ball airborne on the blade of her stick before executing a perfectly timed alley-oop over the Cardinals’ goalkeeper, Morgan Parrinello.

Snyder and Parrinello both raced toward the baseline, but it was too late. The ball slowly trickled across the line and into a wide open net, sending the Lakers sprinting into the end zone to celebrate an extra-time thriller victory.

The Lakers return home to play host to Houghton University on Saturday afternoon, in what will be one of their last non-conference games before they begin SUNYAC play. The Lakers will celebrate four seniors before the matinee showdown.