OSWEGO, N.Y.— The men's soccer team blanked the Houghton College Highlanders, 5-0, on Friday at Laker Turf Stadium to open the season and the Oswego State Men's Soccer Classic. It was the first time the Lakers scored five goals or more in a game since they defeated SUNY IT 5-0 on Sept. 22, 2007. Today's game was Head Coach Dan Kane's first game at Oswego.

Only a minute into the game, Thomas Jackson put the Lakers on the board. Connor Lunduski flipped the ball over Houghton goalkeeper Caleb Loew, and Jackson was able to get the ball in the net to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Lunduski was aggressive throughout the game, ultimately ending his day with five shots.

After a fairly quiet first half, the Lakers started out strong yet again at the beginning of the second half. Less than two minutes into the half, Hassan Musa connected with Jason Siracuse and Siracuse found the net to give Oswego a 2-0 lead over Houghton.

At 70 minutes, it was Siracuse playing the role of the distributor. He crossed the ball over to Ryan Lindeman, who shot the ball into the net to make the score 3-0. Lindeman's goal gave the Lakers momentum. Five minutes later, Musa had a long kick to add on another goal to the Oswego's lead.

Just three minutes after Musa's goal, the junior was at it again. Musa tallied an assist as Caleb Asamoah found the back corner of the net to make it a 5-0 game.

Not only were the Lakers strong offensively, but defensively as well. Goalie Evan Bogucki played all 90 minutes and had three saves during the shutout, while his defense only allowed eight shots. It was the fourth shutout of Bogucki's career.

Oswego will be back in action at 12 p.m. on Sunday for its second game of the Classic when it hosts SUNY Purchase at Laker Turf Stadium.