Oswego State Women's Hockey Season Recap

The 2012-13 Season for the Oswego State Women's hockey team was a great success, to say the very least. Oswego had a lot to overcome this past season, and things turn interesting very quickly, before the season even started. Due to some possible NCAA rules violations, the exact problems the school had to face are still unknown, Oswego lost some it's top returning players from last year, and even a few top flight recruits. So Oswego State started, and played, the year with only 17 total players on their roster. By the time all was said and done, Oswego finished the year with a .500 record and hosted a playoff game for the 2nd year in a row. So lets now take a look back at the season that was for the Oswego State Lakers.

Oswego kicked off the year with an exhibition game against the Toronto Midget Aeros on October 20th and fell just short in a 2-1 loss, with Emma Smetaniuk scoring the loan goal. The regular season officially got underway the following weekend, with Oswego making a trip to New England area. First up was a road game in Castleton on October 26th, a game in which Oswego was blanked 3-0. Oswego turned things around the next night on October 27th, when they skated to a 1-1 tie against New England College to earn the first point of the regular season. Lizzy Marks scored the first goal, officially, for the Lakers on the year and Oswego finished off October 0-1-1.

November rolled around, and the Lakers started the month off with a weekend home and home series against the Utica Pioneers. First up was a November 2nd game at the Aud in Utica, a game which the Pioneers won 3-1. Laker Captain Olivia Boersen scored the only goal for Oswego on that night. Both teams turned right around and faced each other again the next night, November 3rd. This time the game was played at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego. Changing locations for the game did wonders for Oswego, as they picked up their first win of the year, a 5-3 victory. Bridget Smith picked up her first win of the year. So after the Utica series, Potsdam made their trip to the Campus Center, and the teams traded shutouts that weekend. First up, thanks to 22 saves from Bridget Smith and four different goal scorers, Oswego beat the Bears 4-0. For Smith it was her first shutout of the season. Very next day,  Dawna Salvarinas made 19 saves for Potsdam as the Bears shutout the Lakers 2-0. Now after trading shutouts with Potsdam, Oswego took their act back on the road for a weekend series with Neuman College right before thanksgiving, a series Oswego would sweep. First up was a 4-2 win by Oswego on November 17th, a game that saw a pair of first career goals. Freshman Bailee Goodon and Senior Breanne Reith each scored their first career goals. For Reith it was her first goal in four years, and with her being the lone senior on the team this year, it made things all the more special. The next day saw another first career goal by a Laker, as Oswego beat Neuman again, this time in overtime, 2-1. Megan Hagg scored her first as a Laker to tie the game and junior Leslie Jarvis scored her first career goal, in Overtime, to win the game for the Lakers.

The Lakers returned from thanksgiving break to take on Hamilton College at home, but they weren't able to muster much offense in a 3-1 loss. So with that Oswego finished November with a 4-3 record. Moving to December, Oswego would host Chatham for a weekend series to kick off the month. Oswego looked to bounce back from the loss to Hamilton, and they did in a big way. First it was a 6-1 win on home ice, followed up by a 4-0 shutout of the Cougars on December 3rd. With the 4-0 win, it was the 1st career win and shutout for freshman goalie Tori Trovanto. Oswego closed out the month of December and first half of the season against Amherst, but the Lakers couldn't capitalize and fell short 2-1. With the first half of the season in the books, Oswego stood at 6-5-1 overall, and 6-2-0 in ECAC West play.

With the 2012 portion of the calender in the books, Oswego started the 2013 half of the season with a weekend series against St. Norbert. the new year started off with a 3-2 win. But that wouldn't improve as Oswego would fall on a three game losing skid. First it was a 2-1 loss to St. Norbert at home. Then Oswego had to travel to the North Country to take on rival Plattsburgh in a weekend series. Things wouldn't go so hot for Oswego as they dropped both games of the series, 8-0 and 2-0. Oswego returned home licking their wounds when Buffalo State made the trip to town. Oswego had found their jump and took it out on the Bengals, beating them 3-0 and 2-0.  Bridget Smith picked up the shutout in both games, making 18 saves both shutout wins. The final weekend in January would bring in a weekend series with Stevenson making the trip to Oswego. Oswego would take the first game 5-1 but fell just short in getting shut out 1-0 in the 2nd game. So when January ended, Oswego stood at 10-9-1 and 8-4-0 in ECAC West play.

Now with February rolling in Oswego had four games left in the season, senior weekend against Elmira and a road series in Cortland heading into the playoffs. with the Soaring Eagles in tow it wasn't the way Oswego wanted to end the season at home, getting shut out in both games 2-0 and 6-0. So with that Oswego had ended its regular season on home ice, but it still had two more road games to go, in Cortland to cap the year off. Oswego walked away with two wins to end the year 3-2 and 3-1, sending the Lakers on a small roll going into the playoffs.

For the 2nd year in a row Oswego would play Neuman at the Campus Center in the opening round of the ECAC West playoffs. Last year, Oswego blanked Neuman 3-0 in the playoffs, and Oswego beat Neuman in both games at Neuman earlier this year. However the third time was the charm for Neuman as the Knights shut out the Lakers 3-0 to put an end to the season. Oswego finished the season with a 12-12-1 record overall and 10-6-0 in ECAC West play.

There were plenty of bright spots for the Oswego State Lakers this season. Oswego pitched four shutouts this year, one by Tori Trovanto and three from Bridget Smith.  Melissa Seamont led the team in goals (9) assists (15) and Points (24). Seamont's 15 assists set the single season mark for assists by a Laker forward, her 9 goals is good for the 7th most in school history and her 24 points ties her with Mackenzie Lee for the most points in a single season in school history. Melissa's 46 career points after her Junior year puts her in 4th place on the all time Oswego scoring list, just 4 points behind Kelly Collins for the school all time scoring record.

No Oswego player scored a hat trick this year but a couple of players came close with two goal games.  Melissa Seamont (11/3/12 vs Utica), Mady Paul (12/2/12 vs Chatham), and Olivia Boersen (1/26/13 vs Stevenson) had mulit-goal games.

The lone senior on this year's club was Breanne Reith, who had spent four years dominating the blue line for Oswego. In 94 games played she scored 2 goals 4 assists and 6 points. Reitih is known for being one of the best stay at home blueliners in program history.

I think I can probably speak for most fans when I say the following. Ladies it was one hell of a year. It truly was an honor to watch you guys do what you did this year, with what you had to work with. Congratulations on another successful season!