The Oswego varsity boys lacrosse team played in first half Friday like a team a bit rattled by a six-game losing steak. The Bucs got over that mental hurdle in a hurry in the second half.

Oswego outscored Nottingham 10-1 in the final half and finally snapped the losing skid with a 15-3 victory over the Bulldogs at Joseph Wilber Field.

“We started out a little slow. We were coming off from six losses,” Oswego assistant coach Dan Bartlett said. “There was a little bit a self doubt, a little lack of confidence based on what we had done in the past six games. I think we struggled a little bit at the beginning, but then we started rolling.”

The Bucs’ leading scorer Brett McClelland erupted in the second half after being shutout in the first half. McClelland scored four markers as the Bucs’ attack rolled.

“Everybody we play takes their best guy and they put him on Brett and they try to shut him off and don’t even let him touch the ball,” Bartlett said. “That can be pretty frustrating.

“Tonight he wasn’t creating early and he was a little bit frustrate, but then as the game settled down, he got back into his own rhythm and he was fine. He’s awfully talented. To keep him off the scoreboard for a whole game is going to be tough.”

Eric Cooper had three goals for the Bucs. Matt Howard  and Brian Witmer had two goals apiece.

Oswego (5-6) raced to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Cooper got the attack going with two early markers. Nottingham’s Demitrius Parker scored with 49 seconds remaining to make it a 4-1 game.

The scoring dipped in the second quarter as the Bucs and Bulldogs could muster only one goal apiece. Nottingham’s Jon Kalet bounced a shot at 9:32. Witmer fired in a shot with Oswego on a man advantage at 7:25 remaining. The Bucs took a 5-2 lead into the third quarter.

McClelland heated up in the third quarter and so did his teammates. The Bucs dominated the third and outscored the Bulldogs 6-1 behind three McClelland markers.
McClelland scooped a groundball near the net and quickly flicked a shot in the net with 1:11 to go, giving the Bucs a 11-3 advantage after three quarters.

The Bucs continued to stifle the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs were held scoreless while the Bucs added four more markers.

“Our defense played well,” Bartlett said. “We’ve struggled this year defensively. Tonight we did a good job of extending. Nottingham doesn’t really have some of the athletes that the other teams do, so we extended to put pressure on guys and hopefully turn the ball over. We were able to do that.”

McClelland scored his final marker at 10:31 for the Bucs’ first goal of the quarter. Witmer made it a 15-3 final with a marker at 2:05.