OSWEGO, NY – With temperatures reaching nearly 140 degrees on the field the Oswego and Carthage girls’ varsity lacrosse teams squared off for the Section III Class B title.
It was an emotional and physical roller coaster as the teams gutted it out before the Bucs advanced to the state regional competition for the first time in the history of the program with a 15-14 victory.
Not only did the Bucs have to overcome the horrendous temperatures, but they faced probably one of the hottest scoring machines in Central New York lacrosse as senior Kailah Kempney, who is bound for Syracuse University, had a nine goal afternoon. Kempney finished her season with well over 110 goals.
Oswego jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but one thing for certain about girls’ lacrosse is that no one can rest comfortably with any type of lead.
At halftime the Bucs led 9-6, but were concerned over the second half.
Starting goalie Tayler Bowman took a shot to the hand and was removed from the game late in the first half of play.
Senior Hayley Lukaczyk came on and played solidly to keep Carthage at bay.
The second half saw the Bucs get off to a fast start to build up a 12-6 lead.
Meanwhile, Bowman was coming up with at least four near spectacular or spectacular saves to keep Carthage from threatening the mount a comeback.
Kempney took matters into her own hands in the second half and scored the final four goals en route to her nine-goal performance.
With 86 seconds left McCarrick scored on a free position goal with the eventual game winner. Kempney scored at the buzzer to trim the final gap to one goal.
Sam McCarrick, Taylor Giglio and Libby Sherman each had three goals and an assist while Mikayla Place had two goals and an assist, Kaitlyn Armstrong two goals, Becca Martin and Mackenzie Robinson one each.
Bowman finished with 10 saves while Lukaczyk had two for the 9-9 Bucs.
Bucs Advance to Title Game
Oswego scored a 12-10 win over Jamesville-DeWitt in the lacrosse sectional semifinal at Henninger.
The scoring for the first half was back and forth ending the half 6-5 Bucs. Oswego played disciplined defense in the first half. Limiting scoring opportunities for JD’s top attackers (Taylor Fallon and Taylor Bierwagen)
The Buc Defense was led by Brittany Kearns, Mackenzie Robinson, Kelsey Ross, Sam McCarrick and Goalie Tayler Bowman.
There was then a 45-minute half time break while both teams waited for the lightening storm to pass.
The Bucs came out slow at the start of the second half allowing JD to tie up the game 6-6. After an Oswego time out, the Bucs scored three goals in a row. JD was not going to leave without a fight. They responded with a TO call and scored two in a row keeping the game within one goal. Oswego then received 2 cards in a row from aggressive play in the midfield (Place and Giglio).
The Bucs held their opponents scoring during this time.
With only minutes left in the game and a score of 11-10 (Oswego) the Bucs came up with the draw control and tried to keep possession, but turned the ball over allowing JD a scoring opportunity. With a big save from Oswego Goalie Hayley Lukaczyk, the Bucs came back with possession with 45 seconds left on the clock. Oswego spread out the field and possessed the ball. With four seconds left on the clock Place passed to Becca Martin who found the back of the net ending the score at 12-10.
Alexa Healy had three goals as did Becca Martin while Kaitlyn Armstrong had two scores and Taylor Giglio, Libby Sherman and Mikayla Place scored. Place added four assists while Giglio had three assists.
Boshart, Lloyd, Tracz Compete in State Qualifier
Three members of the Oswego High School boys’ golf team competed on Thursday at Seven Oaks Golf Club in Hamilton, vying for one of nine coveted spots representing Section III in the New York State Boys Public High School Golf Championships held at Cornell University in June.
Oswego Bucs Matt Lloyd, Austin Tracz, and Luke Boshart took to the tee on Thursday, hoping to be one of the lucky golfers to advance to the second day of qualifying (106 golfers were competing on Thursday). Unfortunately, the three young men came up a little short of posting the qualifying score of 81, thus ending their 2011 season.
Senior players Matt Lloyd and Austin Tracz both qualified for this event by shooting rounds of 80 at Green Lakes State Park in the fall of last year. They were both excited to get a chance to play the renowned Robert Trent Jones designed Seven Oaks Golf Club – a difficult course which meanders its way through the beautiful Colgate University campus.
A legitimate 7,000 yards from the back tees, Seven Oaks has a history of bringing “out of shape” players to their knees with its well-placed bunkers and lightening-fasts greens.
Seven Oaks claimed three more victims on Thursday, and unfortunately, they were wearing Buc Blue. One of those victims was Luke Boshart, Oswego’s sophomore phenom who captured medalist honors last fall at the sectional tournament when he blazed through Green Lakes tree lined layout in 74 strokes. Because of his outstanding play last October, Boshart was paired in the traditional first group at Seven Oaks – a group comprised of all four sectional medalists. This group included rising New Hartford star Derek Bard whose even par score of 72 could not be bettered on Thursday.
Boshart, who was admittedly a little rattled playing in such fine golfing company, vowed to return stronger next year. “I’ll be back,” Luke said, staring at the first round scoreboard, “and I’ll be better prepared next year.”
For Tracz and Lloyd, both have reached the end of their high school golfing careers.
Lloyd, who will be attending Syracuse University in the fall, said that he wasn’t sure if SU even had a golf team but that he was “being recruited “hard” to play basketball for The Orange” (he said this with a smile of course). Lloyd captained the Oswego Bucs to a 10-6 year last season including a third place finish at sectionals in October.
Tracz will stay close to home, choosing to attend Oswego State University, where he hopes to play golf for Coach Howard and the Lakers. Tracz, known for his lengthy drives on the course, played in every match his senior season, and helped Oswego reach the coveted 10 win mark.
As for Boshart, he’ll return to play next season a little more hungry and a little wiser.
“Much of golf is just believing that you belong in the final group on Sunday, or in Luke’s case the first group on Thursday,” said Coach Rose of his young player. “Once a player gets used to playing with the best, then they usually rise to the occasion. This won’t be the last you hear of Luke.”
The Oswego Bucs begin their 2011-2012 campaign in August.
Boys Track at Class AA Meet
Members of the Oswego varsity boys track team competed and did well at the Section III Class AA Meet on Tuesday at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
Sophomore Cory Keefe won his best event, the 110-meter high hurdles, to become the Section III champion with a time of 14.85, a tenth of a second off his school record. Keefe also placed third in the 200-meter dash with an excellent time of 22.96, just three-tenths of a second behind the winner.
“Each meet he goes out and does a super job in any event he enters,” Oswego coach Erwin Dewey said.
Junior Mike Ruggio had a good day as he continues to place in all of the big meets in the shot put. He recorded a distance of 45’ 6”.
“He had a great season as his hard work has paid off,” Dewey said.
The Bucs’ Colin Morgan ended his career on a high note as he turned in his best time of the year in the 1,600 meters (4:42.9).
“Colin has done everything we ask of him, and has been one of the leaders on this team,” Dewey said.
Keefe and Ruggio will move on to the state qualifier meet next Thursday at CNS.
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