The Oswego State men's lacrosse team suffered a 17-6 loss to No. 4 Ithaca College on Wednesday afternoon at Laker Turf Stadium. Oswego is now 1-2 on the year while the nationally-ranked Bombers stay perfect at 3-0.
Ryan Jelen scored the first goal of the game for Oswego, giving the Lakers an early lead at 12:43. An assist was credited to Jarrod Wilkom on the Jelen tally. Oswego's defense played strong to start the contest, holding Ithaca off the board for the first 6:41. The Bombers needed just 31 seconds to score in their first outing and only five minutes to record a goal against No. 12 RPI. Ithaca showed the reason for its ranking for the duration of the first half, scoring the game's next nine goals. Oswego wrapped the stanza on a good note, recording the second quarter's final two tallies. With 2:37 left in the half, Mark Niechcial found the back of the net off a Jake Piccininni pass. Caleb Alford was next in line for a goal – the first of his career – with 20 seconds to play in the quarter. Junior Tyler Nason assisted his freshman teammate on the half's final goal.
Oswego was unable to score in the third period while the Bombers added four for a 13-3 lead heading in the final quarter. The Lakers capitalized on two man-up opportunities in the fourth, starting with Tim Schof's goal from Alford at 12:12 to make it a 13-4 Ithaca advantage. After three-straight Bomber scores, Schof was at it again, this time from Nason, at 5:06 while Ithaca was serving a penalty.
The game's final goal went to Oswego in an even-strength situation, as Wilkom notched his fifth of the season with a little less than 2:00 to play.
Senior goalie Wyatt Russo stood tall in net all day, turning away 13 shots from the Bombers while facing 31 shots-on goal.
Wilkom led Oswego with five ground balls while John Petrelli paced the team with three caused turnovers.
The Lakers will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday when they host Morrisville State College.
