ITHACA, N.Y. – For the second straight year, the Oswego State men’s lacrosse team (5-1) and Ithaca (6-1) were unable to settle things in regulation. However, the Lakers came up short as Andrew Bruce’s fourth goal of the contest nearly two minutes into overtime gave the No. 15 Bombers a 6-5 victory Tuesday afternoon.
The scoring started early when Ithaca’s Jake Long scored his 17th goal of the season in the opening minute. Oswego State countered right back when Jimmy Cordon (So., Camillus, N.Y.) notched his ninth goal of the year. With 12:11 left in the frame, Casey Balzer (Sr., Nassau, N.Y.) connected with Cody Hoose (So., Syracuse, N.Y.) to give the Lakers their only lead of the game at 2-1 in the first three minutes. The Bombers responded with a pair of goals from Bruce and Michael Walker, but Nick Giampaolo (Jr., Setauket, N.Y.) found Hoose open with 4:17 on the scoreboard to even the score at 3-3 heading into the second quarter.
The lone goal of the second came when Bruce capitalized on a Laker cross-checking penalty to give Ithaca a 4-3 lead at the break.
Oswego State started the third quarter strong when Connor Khammar (So., Camillus, N.Y.) buried a pass from Giampaolo. Less than two minutes later, Bruce regained the lead for the Bombers, as the frame ended 5-4.
Chris Porten (Jr., Auburn, N.Y.) knotted the score again at 5-5 after receiving a pass from Cordon 1:25 into the fourth quarter. From that point on Scott Sidnam made three saves for the home team, while Bryan Martin (Jr., St. James, N.Y.) recorded two saves, including a stop just before the horn sounded to send the game into overtime.
Oswego State’s Troy Crevier (Fr., Webster, N.Y.) won his tenth faceoff of the game, but the Lakers turned the ball over into the offensive zone. Ithaca pushed the ball up the field resulting in Bruce scoring on the first shot of the extra frame.
The turnover and groundball battles were nearly identical as Oswego State committed 15 turnovers compared to 14 for Ithaca, while the Bombers scooped up 28 groundballs to the Lakers’ 26. Brian Slattery (So., St. James, N.Y.) tallied four of Oswego State’s groundballs.
Bryan Martin suffered his first loss of the season after making eight saves compared to nine stops for Scott Sidnam.
Oswego State opens SUNYAC play on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it squares off against Brockport at Spencerport High School.
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