The players packed up their equipment without saying a word, and Coach Bob Nelson slumped over on the bench solitarily, gazing over the stat sheet like he was searching for answers. 

No one likes losing, and nothing is more devastating than an overtime loss. 

The Oswego varsity boys lacrosse team fell to Central Square 8-7 in sudden-death overtime on Wednesday at Joseph Wilber Field. 

A penalty in the opening seconds of overtime that allowed Central Square senior Tyler Jennings, who tied the game in regulation late in the fourth quarter, to score the game-winner wasn’t the source of Nelson’s angst. 

He was more perturbed about the Bucs’ shot selection. Moreover, their stubbornness to shoot high. 

“The penalty is not what cost us,” Nelson said. “We lost the game in the first two quarters. In my personal opinion, we didn’t shoot well."

“We had a ton of good opportunities in the first two quarters,” Nelson said. “We continued to shoot high. We don’t put them on the ground and we don’t do what we’re taught to do in practice.” 

Nelson said if Oswego (7-8) challenged Central Square goalie Kyle Dinet with shots around the ankles, the Bucs could have netted nine goals in the first half instead of trailing 5-3 at intermission. 

“Most of them sailed wide ... high and wide,” Nelson said. “We just keep saying the same things over and over. No one wants to listen. Everyone wants to do it their way.” 

Senior midfielder Eric Cooper emerged in the third quarter as the Bucs’ go-to player, and early in the fourth he helped the Bucs take their first lead since the opening moments. 

Cooper, who led the Bucs with four goals, scored the first two markers of the third quarter. The senior bounced a shot past Dinet at 10:11, tying the score at 5-5. 

“Eric Cooper got open on the crease and started shooting low,” Nelson said. “These creases are as hard as cow pastures. The goalies can’t figure out where the ball is going. You shoot low on goalies. When in doubt, shoot low. We did, and we got back into it.” 

Central Square (8-7) senior Nick Zerrillo put the Red Hawks back on top at 9:12, but Oswego senior Steve Czarnecki squeezed in a marker with 15 seconds left in the third to bring the game back into a deadlock at 6-6. 

The Bucs went ahead on a Cooper goal with 10:03 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, Jennings tied the game for the Red Hawks with 2:58 remaining in fourth, setting the stage for his game-winning shot in overtime on the man advantage. 

Oswego’s next game is at 5 p.m. today at Liverpool.