The No. 4/7 Oswego State men's ice hockey team encountered its first loss of the year 4-2 at Cortland on Friday night. With the defeat, Oswego is now 1-1-1 overall and in SUNYAC action while the Red Dragons improve to that same mark.
Cortland opened the scoring at 6:16 of the first period before a Red Dragon penalty gave way to the Laker equalizer. With Andrew McCann serving two minutes for interference, junior Matt Galati capitalized on the extra-man opportunity, scoring his first of the year. Classmates Kenny Neil and Shawn Hulshof were credited with assists on the tally.
In the second period, it seemed the two teams would play a scoreless 20 minutes until Cortland regained the lead with a goal at 19:56.
Coming out of the final break, the Red Dragons pushed its advantage to two with a Tommy Nolan goal at 4:42. Oswego would not shy away, cutting the deficit to one when Mitchell Herlihey lit the lamp on a pass from Joey Davies. Cortland would put it away late in the third, however, as it recorded its fourth score on an Oswego empty net at 19:03.
Oswego's penalty-kill unit was perfect on the night, fending off the one Cortland opportunity, which came in the first period. The Laker power-play went 1-for-1 in the first quarter but failed on three second-period chances while no penalties were whistled for either team in the final 20 minutes.
Junior Matt Zawadzki played all but the empty net time at the end of the contest, stopping a season-high 32 saves while allowing three goals.
Oswego will now have a week to prepare for its archrival and Whiteout Weekend, as No. 5/5 Plattsburgh comes to the Marano Campus Center Arena for a 7 p.m. battle on Friday.
