By Michael Rosen
The women’s lacrosse team has lost against a trio of State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opponents in the last week.
First the Hawks dropped a 20-3 game at home against SUNY Oswego on Thursday, April 21.
The Lakers scored the first two goals of the game, but third-year co-captain Nicole Gottschalk cut the deficit in half with a goal at the 21:38 mark. Oswego would score two more goals, but another goal by Gottschalk made it a 4-2 game.
Hawks first-year midfielder Rachael Purtell would then make it a 4-3 game with a goal at the 3:16 mark. Oswego would score four more goals in the first half to make it an 8-3 game at intermission.
The Lakers would outshoot the Hawks 19-2 in the second half to score 12 more goals and win the game by a final of 20-3.
Gottschalk led the team with two goals, while third-year co-captain Melissa Wagner assisted both of her goals. Second-year attacker Kelsey Aeberli had two draw controls while fellow second-year attacker Orlagh Brady and first-year midfielder Joey-Lynn Henderson had two caused turnovers, each. Third-year goalkeeper Colleen Roemer had a team-high eight ground balls and made 11 stops in the net on her birthday.
The Hawks then dropped a 23-2 match to No. 11 The College at Brockport on Saturday, April 23.
The Golden Eagles scored the first seven goals of the game before Hawks third-year midfielder Alexa Criollo found the back of the net at the 18:41 mark, thanks to an assist by Wagner, to make it a 7-1 game.
Brockport scored two more goals before Gottschalk scored on a feed from Aeberli to make it a 9-2 game. The Golden Eagles would score five more goals to enter the half with a 14-2 lead.
Brockport outshot New Paltz 14-4 in the second half to score nine more goals and secure a 23-2 victory.
Gottschalk and Aeberli each had two draw controls in the match, while Criollo and Brady had two ground balls each. Roemer made six saves in the loss.
“Our team has learned many different things from these SUNYAC losses,” Hawks third-year co-captain Nicole Petrullo said. “Coming out of a loss is hard, but we take the good things we did and look to improve on them. Always looking to improve ourselves is our overall goal. Being a young team, we need to look at these losses and learn from them so we can do better next year.”
Then on Tuesday, April 26 the Hawks played their final home game of the season against Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta and lost by a score of 15-8. With the victory, the Red Dragons now lead the Hawks 22-20 in the 2015-16 Catskill Cup standings.
New Paltz started the game strong, scoring the first four goals of the game. Oneonta would counter with four straight goals of their own, but a goal by Criollo at the 3:48 mark gave New Paltz the lead again and the score stood at 5-4 in favor of New Paltz at halftime.
The Red Dragons would score five-straight goals to open up the second half and take a 9-5 lead. The Hawks cut the deficit to 9-6, and later to 11-8 thanks to a goal by Gottschalk at the 10:39 mark. Unfortunately, New Paltz would not score again and would ultimately end up losing 15-8.
Criollo led the offense with three goals and an assist, while also causing a turnover. Gottschalk and second-year attacker Caitlin Morris both scored two goals on the day. Gottschalk also led the team with three draw controls and she also caused a turnover. Morris also chipped in with an assist in the match. Aeberli scored a goal, while Wagner led the team with two assists. Purtell contributed with two caused turnovers and two draw controls. Roemer made 12 saves in a losing effort.
Hawks head coach Liz Student said after the game that the team played very well for most of the match, but it was not quite enough.
“Our problem all year has been putting together a full game,” Student said. “Ninety percent of the game they performed really well, and we just had that lapse that has been killing us all year.”
The Hawks will conclude their season on Saturday, April 30 when they take on No. 1 SUNY Cortland on the road.
“We hope to work as hard as we can against the number one team and see everything we’ve been working on throughout the entire season come together,” Gottschalk said.
Student added that, although it seems unlikely, an upset can happen at any time.
“Yeah they’re number one in the country, but everybody has an off day,” Student said. “That’s the really cool thing about sports; any team any day. That saying exists because it has happened before.”