ONEONTA, NY – Visiting Oswego State out-scored Hartwick 3-0 from late in the third quarter to the final minute of the fourth to pull out a 6-5 win over the Hawks at Wright Stadium Saturday. The game marked the first of the season for both teams.
           
Chris VanDemark (Painted Post, NY/Corning Painted Post) led Hartwick with two goals on the day. Kainen Francis-Thompson (Hogansburg, NY/Massena), Sam Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin), and Garrison Wojtas (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge) also found the net for 'Wick.
           
The game was scoreless for the opening 12 and a half minutes of action until Oswego's Weston Gray broke the tie on the man advantage with 2:27 left in the first quarter. The Lakers added a second 3:58 into the second quarter as Kyle Bacon scored the first of his game-high three goals. Hartwick answered with two scores 1:59 apart. VanDemark and Francis-Thompson got the goals and the two teams were deadlocked at the half, 2-2.
           
Down a man to start the third quarter, VanDemark came up with a ground ball in his defensive end. After a full field run with the ball, he delivered the go-ahead strike 26 seconds in. Three minutes, thirty-seven seconds later, Bacon evened things up again with his second goal. Sam Ferguson and Dylan Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) connected for the Hawks' fourth goal. Dylan would set up his older brother at the 5:16 mark to put Hartwick ahead 4-3. Evan Hollfelder came right back for the Lakers, tallying just 1:42 later, for a 4-all draw entering the final quarter.
           
Bobby Emerson scored at 9:24 of the fourth quarter to put Oswego ahead for good. The Hawks fired two shots at the Laker goal in the next two and a half minutes but both were off target. Bacon would make it 6-4 with just 46 seconds left to play. Wojtas took the ensuing face-off the distance for his first goal in a Hartwick uniform with 34 ticks to go. The Lakers earned the draw but they turned the ball back over to the Hawks. 'Wick cleared, but the Hawks would turn it over before getting a look at a possible game-tying shot, allowing the Lakers to escape with the victory.
           
The Hawks finished the game with a 39-32 advantage in shots. The Lakers had the edge in ground balls by a margin of 30-27.
           
Wojtas led all players with 10 ground balls. Alec Lind (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) contributed four with VanDemark and David Demand (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) each chipping in three.
           
C.J. Alesandrini (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) turned aside 10 Laker shots in the Hawks' cage. Kevin O'Donnell made 21 saves for Oswego, including 14 in the first half.
           
Hartwick is off until next Saturday when the Hawks host Farmingdale State beginning at 11 a.m.
           
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