CORTLAND, NY –
Owen Brant (Loudonville/Shaker) netted the game-winning goal in the 59th minute gave the nationally 22nd-ranked Cortland men's soccer team a 1-0 home victory over Oswego in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Saturday afternoon on Holloway Field. Cortland improves to 7-1-1 (2-0-0 SUNYAC), while Oswego drops to 2-5-1 (0-2-0 SUNYAC).
Brant's goal was his fourth goal of the season, and first game-winning tally. It is also the second straight year that the sophomore tallied the game winner against Oswego, as he also scored in a 1-0 win last year.
Bruno Baez (White Plains/Iona Prep) contributed his first point of the season with an assist.
Jordan Ott (Fort Worth, TX/Southwest Christian) made two saves in goal for his seventh shutout.
Kyle Rose recorded six saves in goal for Oswego, and three different Lakers had one shot on goal.
Cortland had the majority of the possession during the first half. The first great chance for the Red Dragons came in the ninth minute when Brant was sprung down the left side thanks to a pass by
Eric Holstein (Syracuse/Westhill). Brant cut inside and sent a low shot that was save in the bottom left corner by Rose.
Cortland continued to increase the pressure, and thought it had taken the lead in the 17th minute when
Shay Daly (Elwood/John Glenn) fired an Olympico goal straight from a corner kick, but the referee disallowed the goal due to a foul on the goalkeeper Rose.
In the 23rd minute, Baez was sent in alone on goal after a perfectly-flicked pass from Holstein in the midfield, but Baez's shot was saved by Rose in the center of the goal to keep the game scoreless.
Oswego's lone shot attempt of the half came in the 33rd minute, as Hamid Alhamid sprinted down the right side and chipped a shot past Ott. However,
Gabe Garcia (Haverstraw/North Rockland) tracked back defensively to clear the ball from in front of goal.
The game remained scoreless into halftime, with Cortland ending the half with an 11-1 edge in shot attempts and a 5-0 lead in corner kicks.
The Red Dragons nearly scored the opener in the 57th minute off a corner kick, as
Iago Lopez (Ithaca) flicked a shot towards the left side of the goal that was turned off the goal line by an Oswego defender. Just a minute later, Aiden Lawrence fired a shot on target that forced Ott to make his first save of the game for the Red Dragons.
With just over a half-hour left, Brant tallied the lone goal of the game. Baez dribbled around a pair of Lakers and slid a pass in to Brant inside the 18-yard area, and Brant cut back to his right and ripped a low shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Just seconds after the restart, Lopez fired a shot that struck off of the crossbar and out of play with a chance to double the Red Dragons' lead.
Oswego had a couple of chances in the late going to net an equalizer, but one opportunity was stopped when the referee spotted a handball by the Lakers before a shot attempt and another great chance was saved with a dive by Ott to his right to deny Ian Husselbeck with under seven minutes remaining.
From that point, Cortland did not allow another shot attempt for the Lakers to secure the victory.
