Oswego State had an opportunity to force a three-way tie for the top spot in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) standings with a win over league leader SUNY Geneseo. But the visiting Golden Knights jumped out to a dominating first quarter lead with the game's first seven goals and were never challenged en route to a 20-5 win on Wednesday, April 22 at Laker Field.
Geneseo (10-1, 5-0 SUNYAC), ranked 11th in the latest United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III national rankings, clinched a share of the conference title and the top seed in next week's SUNYAC playoffs with the victory, while the Lakers (7-8, 4-2 SUNYAC) drop to third place with one game remaining on the conference schedule.
The Blue Knights put the game away early with the game's first seven goals in the first quarter and the opening goal 2:45 into the second quarter before Oswego (7-8, 4-2 SUNYAC) got on the board with back-to-back scores from senior midfielders Dan Rogers (Boston, NY/Frontier) and Mike Recor (Syracuse/East Syracuse-Minoa). The Blue Knights closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run in the final 6:43 to take a 14-2 halftime lead.
The Lakers opened the third quarter with three goals in the opening 6:27, but Geneseo scored the final two goals of the quarter and ended the game on a 4-0 fourth quarter.
Rogers and Recor each scored twice to lead Oswego scoring. Senior Nick DeFeo (Great River/East Islip) added a goal, and senior Mike Brewster (East Syracuse/East Syracuse-Minoa) registered an assist, extending his string of consecutive games with a point to 28. The Lakers used three goalies, with junior starter Judd Robinson (Guilderland) making 17 saves and yielding 18 goals in 47:16 to pick up the loss.
Mike Cintineo was one of three players for Geneseo scoring multiple goals, tallying a game-high six goals while adding a pair of assists, Craig Lange and Tom Costanza finished with four goals each as Geneseo outshot the Lakers, 52-27, controlled the ground balls, 63-30, and won 23 of 30 faceoffs, with junior Erik Baranowski (Liverpool) taking all of them. Lange also dished out three assists, while Costanza registered two assists.
Oswego wraps up its regular season schedule with a 2:30 p.m. matchup with Oneonta State in the second game of a men/s/women's doubleheader on Laker Field, witfh a win locking up the third seed in the conference playoffs.
