The Oswego State men's lacrosse team controlled the majority Wednesday's game and withstood a late Utica College push to claim a 10-9 victory at Laker Turf Stadium. With the win, the Lakers improve to 3-5 on the year while the Pioneers fall to 1-7.
Oswego held four-goal advantages on three separate occasions in the game, its last coming with 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter at 10-6. It also opened the game with five of the contest's first six tallies for a 5-1 margin and owned an 8-4 lead at the half. Utica put the pressure on late, scoring all three of the fourth quarter's goals, but the Lakers withstood the effort. With less than a minute to play, the Pioneers sent a shot wide of the goal but rather than getting another chance, Oswego kept the ball in bounds, picked up the ground ball and ran the final 20 seconds out.
Most of the Laker scoring was done with nifty individual work, with only two goals coming off assists. James Lennon paced Oswego with both helpers along with two goals for a four-point outing. Jarrod Wilkom tied a game-high with three goals while Ryan Jelen and Tyler Nason joined Lennon with two goals apiece. SeniorZach Anderson rounded out the Laker scoring, grabbing a loose ball in front of the net and firing it past the Utica goalie to notch his lone goal of the day.
In net, Wyatt Russo picked up his third win of the year by making eight saves on Pioneer attempts. At the faceoff X, Chase Izyk won 13 of his 21 opportunities. Izyk also led Oswego in ground balls – a category the Lakers won 32-27 over Utica – collecting seven followed by Russo's five.
The Lakers caused five turnovers on the day, with Luke Krizman, Joe Noce, John Novitsky, Bailey Grenga and Anderson each forcing one.
Oswego's next contest will open SUNYAC action, as the Lakers will head to Geneseo for a 3 p.m. faceoff on Saturday.
