The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz men’s soccer team scored only one goal for each of their weekend games, coming up victorious in one and empty handed in the other.
The Hawks wrapped up the last two matches of their five-game road trip on Friday and Saturday, playing Cortland on the Red Dragons’ turf first.
New Paltz wasted no time producing offense, recording four shots and two corner kicks within the first 12 minutes of play. Despite the Hawks dominating early, the team was relatively scrappy and earned eight fouls in the opening half of the game. New Paltz’s defense was insurmountable, holding Cortland to only three shots through the opening 45 minutes. Yet through the Hawks’ overwhelming offense and the Red Dragons’ steady defense, the score was locked at 0-0 heading into the second half.
Less than a minute after New Paltz fourth-year midfielder Coltan Goodwine fired a shot high, his teammate, second-year forward James Maltes, rifled the ball under the crossbar in the center of the box to score his seventh goal of the season. His impressive shot gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead over 10 minutes into the game’s latter half, at 55:03.
Third-year midfielder Kevin Doorley followed Maltes’ goal with another shot not long after, but it went wide.
Both teams shot four times after Doorley’s miss, but the Red Dragons couldn’t find the back of the net for the rest of the game, giving the Hawks a well-deserved victory.
The 1-0 win gave the Hawks their seventh shutout of the season and their first back-to-back wins against SUNYAC opponents of the season.
The following day, the Hawks faced their final opponent of their road trip with a match against the Oswego State Lakers.
Two shots from the Lakers were the only notable actions through the game’s uneventful opening 20 minutes. Less than a minute after Hawks first-year midfielder Philip Varner shot wide of the net, the Lakers marched down the field and scored at 33:23. First-year forward Kyle Scalzo’s goal was his first of the season and gave Oswego the 1-0 advantage.
Nine minutes into the second half, New Paltz got a lucky break when Oswego’s second-year defenseman Caleb Munski committed a foul and gave his opponents a penalty kick opportunity. Doorley capitalized on the chance, scoring the tying goal and putting New Paltz on the board. The Hawks gained momentum following the goal, with shots from Varney, Doorley and Dole against the Lakers’ four shots within the same time span.
Unfortunately for New Paltz, fourth-year midfielder Anthony Paris followed up a shot from first-year midfielder Kieran Gilroy three seconds earlier with a goal, burying the ball past Hawks’ third-year goaltender Marc DePasquale with less than eight minutes remaining to give Oswego a 2-1 lead.
The Hawks desperately fought for a tying goal late in the game with three shots and a corner kick in the match’s final three minutes. However, their efforts left them empty handed as the Lakers held on and took the 2-1 win, giving the Hawks’ long road trip a sour end.
The Hawks finally return home for a four-game stretch, kicking it off with a match against the Geneseo Knights on Friday at 3 p.m. before facing the Brockport Golden Eagles on Saturday, at 1 p.m.
