By Liam Sample
In another installment of the infamous rivalry, the Plattsburgh State men’s lacrosse team fell to the Oswego Lakers 19 to 7 in a conference matchup at the Field House on Saturday, April 2. After an early offensive burst from their opponent, the Cardinals failed to respond.
Plattsburgh’s early season struggles continue as they fall to 2-7 with an 0-2 conference record. In their first conference game of the season, Oswego picked up a big win and moved to 6-2 overall.
The Lakers did not waste any time getting on the board. After controlling the draw, first year Corey O’Connor took advantage of open space to get his team on the board only 17 seconds into the game. He scored another a little over a minute later to build a quick 2-0 lead. Both goals were unassisted.
From then on, Oswego capitalized on this momentum, building a six goal lead by the end of the first quarter. Sophomore Gavin Elston netted two of his own in this run and finished the day with four points on three goals and an assist. He leads the team in goals.
Staring down a large deficit and in the second, Plattsburgh found their feet. Under a minute into the quarter, they created some time in the offensive zone and moved the ball around quickly looking for an open shot. Senior midfielder Zach Gill set up his fellow senior Stephen Kane, who winded up a long shot and found the back of the net. Gill leads the team with eighteen assists.
Sophomore attacker John Eiseman got another for the Cards. In the offensive zone again, Gill sent a well placed pass over to Eiseman, who took a close shot from the goalie’s left and beat him up high.
With a four goal lead, Oswego went on another hot stretch, this time scoring five straight. Senior Attacker Weston Gray scored the final two of this run to put the Lakers up 11-2. Gray scored three total in this game and brings his season count up to 20, he leads the team in points.
Kane scored one more for Plattsburgh before halftime. This one was nearly identical to his previous, with Gill setting him up for a long shot that beat the opposing goalie to make the score 11-3 at half.
Junior Goalie Aiden Kenyon made the start for Oswego, he played just over 50 minutes, saving ten and allowing seven. Sophomore Jeff Kinyoun replaced him and saved two.
For Plattsburgh, Senior Goalie Christian Bassi started and played 51:25, he saved 11 on 16 allowed. With this loss, his overall record is now 2-7. Sophomore Dan Clements came in and gave up three more while saving the same amount.
“From the start, we just let Oswego do what they wanted on both sides of the ball and we couldn’t dig ourselves out of the hole we put ourselves into,” Bassi said. “They were a good team and battled the whole game, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance to compete and be successful. At the end of the day, that is why they ended up with a win.”
Oswego who kept their foot on the gas on the third. Sophomores Ryan Eccles and Liam Sexton each tallied a pair in the quarter, with the team having five in total. Eiseman managed to tally two for Plattsburgh to make the score 16-5 through three. His goal total at the end of the game moved up to eight.
The fourth was the most even of the contest, with Kane and Eiseman scoring the first two of the quarter. The pair finished with seven combined goals and 12 points, they were the only goal scorers for the Cardinals. Kane extends his team lead with a sensational 32 goals. Oswego would score three more to end the game for a final score of 19-7.
The Lakers led the game 61-41 in shots, and 26-13 in ground balls. Plattsburgh led in saves, with 14 compared to the opposing 12.
“Oswego wanted the game more than we did on Saturday. They got up on us early and made it tough for us to come back,” senior Tanner Tobias said. “During the game our guys showed glimpses of success, we now just need to compound these glimpses for a full game. If we can do that moving forward, we are going to string together some conference wins.”
Oswego goes on to play the SUNY Potsdam Bears Tuesday, April 5 at home. Plattsburgh attempts to get back on track, playing the 15th ranked team nationally St. Lawrence on April 5th on the road. Their next conference game comes on Saturday, April 9 vs. SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons at the Field House at noon.
